Non Linear Thinking

Do I remember 9-11? Of course I do!

2011-09-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

I was as affected by 9-11 as every other American, and I realize I'm taking a risk of angering some of my fellow citizens, but when has that ever stopped me.
I am so weary of having the events of 9-11 crammed down my throat by the media.
They tell us what to think, and how to think it, and how we should be feeling and responding to that horrific time 10 years ago.

Today, on Today, they had five of the "children" of that day who had lost a parent. They had been rounded up by the Today Show to put "A Face" to the tragedy of those sad times.

Was it necessary?

Did it help me have more compassion and understanding of what so many went through that day.

No. It did not.

And the reason it didn't is because over the last ten years it has been used by the media, both print and television as one of their top "Go To" stories for those times when there just isn't much happening in the world.

In other words; Fodder for a slow news day.

I can just imagine the giddiness of those news-crews covering such a gut wrenching story as

9-11 Ten Years After

Back to this morning.

There was good old Matt with those children (most of them now in their 20's) who had lost a parent to the horror that was 9-11. Of course the Today Show has been keeping track of them during these last ten years.

And of course, in typical TV journalism fashion, Good old Matt Lauer wanted to know,

How did they FEEL?

Guess what? They were good. They have moved on. They have survived. In fact not only survived but by the sound of it flourished.

And guess what else?

They didn't appreciate all that much being forced to relive that day for the nice Today Show audience.
In so many words a few of them basically told Matt that they prefer to not think about that time. They don't dwell on it. They have;

Moved on.

Has anybody thought about that?

Has it ever occurred to anyone other than me that maybe, just maybe the victims of 9-11 don't really want their entire life defined by that awful tragedy? I'm sure it's occurred to a lot of people actually. I think that maybe someone needs to enlighten the media.

I absolutely believe in the "Never Forget" mentality.

Within reason of course.

One point I would like to make though, is I think what this means is to never forget the mistakes we have made as a people, as a country.
As horrible as 9-11 was it wasn't an event that we caused. I don't really think that any rational person still thinks "Well we brought it on ourselves, hopefully we can learn from our mistakes."

No. Of course not. 9-11 was the result of evil men with evil intentions, wreaking evil on innocent victims.
We have nothing to be ashamed of.

Now, if we really believe in "Never Forget" we need to remember the truly awful things we have done as a people.
The atrocity of slavery. We should also, Never Forget the way Black people were treated after slavery was outlawed. Did we take the chance to repair the evil we had done to the innocent victims of this most horrible chapter in our country's history? Did we engulf these newly freed people in arms of security and prosperity as we should have?
No. We did not.
Instead they were thrown from the frying pan into the fire. the . Segregation, discrimination, horrible Jim Crow laws. Evils that to this day still exist, in part, in certain areas of this country.

We need to Never Forget the forced determent of Japanese citizens during World War 2.
Innocent families rounded up and forced to leave their homes and everything they owned and sent to what were basically concentration camps in THIS country. Most of those victims of US stupidity never got back their homes or property, their jobs, their previous lives.

When was the last time you heard this evil remembered.

The Joseph McCarthy insanity.

Women and Blacks denied the right to vote.

The Trail Of Tears i.e.The deplorable treatment of Native Americans.

There are many wrongdoings that we as a people need to remember and learn from.

9-11 is an event so awful, of such incalculable harm, that yes, we still feel it's effects these ten years later. So of course we will remember.

Erect the monuments.

Engrave the names of the victims.

Grieve for the families who lost loved ones.

That is only natural.

But stop contributing to the media's exploitation of that horrible time and let's all remember in whatever way seems appropriate to each of us.
I will never forget that day, that week, that month, and the years that followed. I will never forget. But, I will claim the right to remember it in

my own way,

on my own terms,

and not the way dictated to me by the media.

I do remember, and I do care, but I refuse to feel any guilt if those early days have become somewhat hazy in my mind.
It doesn't mean I don't care, it just means that I'm human, I have a life, I have my own hardships and I have many happinesses as well.

That's how life is.

That's the power of humanity.

We remember.

But we refuse to let those memories stunt our further growth and development.

We heal and then we move on.

And thank God for that.

Warm nectarines and ice cream

2011-07-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

I just had myself a near perfect moment.

I was out running errands, and had brought along a nice, fat, juicy nectarine . . . .

. . . for munchies.

After getting my nails done, and stopping in at Target for necessary Target stuff, I remembered that lovely nectarine.

By now after almost two hours of being in my car in the summer heat, that was one warm and super juicy nectarine.

I took that first bite and it was so dang GOOD.

I immediately started to think how it was too bad I didn't have a nice dish of creamy vanilla ice cream to go with it.

LIGHTBULB MOMENT:
I look across the parking lot and there is a nice friendly little McDonald's.

Oh Boy!!!!!

Five minutes later I'm at the north end of the parking lot eating creamy vanilla soft-serve and a delicious car warmed super juicy nectarine.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH . . . . . . . SIGH . . . .

And then to make it even better. . . . .

. Satellite by Guster starts to play.

It really was a wonderful, happy, delicious, feel good moment.

And of course it made me think of my poor neglected little blog, and how much I wanted to share.

I did have one other thought at the time. . . .

Would I have enjoyed this as much at 24 or even 44 as I did at 54? I like to think I would have, but I don't know.

It's taken me a while . . . . .

to really grow up . . . . . . .

and set my priorities in order . . . . .

and today I did just that .

Susan's Fashion Flubbery

2011-06-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Another oldie but a goodie. This blogging business really is the closest thing to keeping a journal I have ever done.

It is quarter to six Monday evening and I am home alone.

I like being home alone.

It hardly ever happens.

And the reason I am home alone is because I didn't go to the function I was suppose to go to with Shawn.

Don went instead.

I was going to go to this function and then use it for fodder for my blog. Well obviously that won't happen now. But I just now realized that I can write a blog about not going.

Confused?

I will explain.

I wonder if any of you know Donna Tracy? I know that Kim and Richard do because apparently she lives by them. Well Donna is one of the sweetest most sincere people you could ever hope to meet.

How do I know her you might ask.

I know her, because she works, as one of the directors, at the ARC. She is the one letting Shawn be a volunteer this summer at Partners and Pals, the ARCs summer camp. Well Donna called me last Tuesday or maybe Wednesday ( I never remember details like that.) She called to tell me about a golf tournament, slash, fund raiser, dinner, being held tonight to benefit the ARC. The Arc has outgrown their current building in Richland and they are planning to build a new one to better serve their needs, and because of this they are doing various fund raising type activities.

Donna didn't tell me about this particular fundraiser because she thought I should be up-dated on the ARC's every move.

No. She told me about it because she wanted Shawn and I to go to it and kinda be spokespeople for the great programs through the Arc that Shawn has participated in and enjoyed so much.
I told her yes of course we could do it.

Then comes the STRESS!

It is being held at the Meadow Springs Country Club from here on known as MSCC. It will be attended by MSCC type people. People that have money to donate to causes such as this. People that are used to fancy dinners. People that know just the right way to dress for occasions like this.

People who are Movers and Shakers.

I am not a Mover or Shaker. I have no desire to be one either. But I do have a desire to help out the ARC because they are such a worthy organization, and they have done so much for Shawn, and for so many other people like Shawn.

So I told Donna yes, and then immediately started to freak out. I had absolutely NO idea what I would wear to something like this. She said she wasn't quite sure either. Something she said, like business casual.

Business casual?????

Even though I can picture what that would be for a man, after all it is a golf tournament. So the men will have on nice casual slacks and nice polo shirts. But I could not picture in my mind what that would translate into for a woman. Donna wasn't really sure either. She said that she was probably going to wear some nice slacks and a nice shirt.

AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH! ! ! !

I have nice casual clothes. At this time of the year, I wear mostly Capri pants and nice casual tops. I think I look pretty put together for a stay home mom. But, and this is a big BUT. I see women all the time that work, and look very polished and professional. Also I watch "What Not To Wear" and "How Do I Look. "

I have always wondered how Stacy and Clinton would pick me apart.

I don't have the slightest clue how to look polished and professional. I have always admired women that are, but that is not me. Well I decided to go out and at least try to find something suitable.

I went to Catherine's. The store for Larger Women. Because no two ways about it I am a Larger Woman. Now this doesn't really bother me too much, believe it or not. I'm more comfortable with myself now than I have ever been.

Okay, off to Catherine's.

They have nothing, NOTHING. Everything has a sailor motif with stars and anchors. Or jungle prints. And last, but not least, embroidered flowers. Mind you I don't have a problem with embroidered flowers.

FOR MY MOTHER.

Okay, I tell myself, don't panic. Where have you seen the kind of clothes you have in mind. Hmmm? Gee where do I spend the most time shopping and where do I buy a lot of my clothing?

Walmart.

That's right Walmart and I'm not even embarrassed to admit it. They have a lot of really cute plus size clothes. I can also fit into quite a few of their regular sizes in an extra large.

Yeah, Walmart, good idea.

Well I get to Walmart and start looking around and they suddenly seem like Super Casual Central. There are a few nicer looking, slack type Capri's. The problem is that they have cuffs and they are so long, that instead of looking like nice corporate type Capri's, I will look like I am ready for a flood. So, no, to the nice cuffed slightly corporate looking Capri's. Then I think, wait a minute. In my closet is a pair of very nice looking blue and white plaid Capri's that look really nice on me.

TA DA!

I will wear these. Okay pants problem solved. One less thing. Now what to wear with my nice blue and white plaid Capri's? I usually wear a cute white short sleeve top and I think I look pretty good. But, Usually when I see the women dressed the way I am hoping to dress, they don't have on knit tops. Oh No. Woven. It's almost always some kind of button down woven top. Okay. Okay, I tell myself. Don't panic. How hard can it be to find a nice button down woven top? I go back to the plus size section of Walmart. And there it is. A really cute, sort of young looking, woven, button down, plus size top, that even comes in white. And it looks like the tops I have seen in several other stores, which is good, because even though I do love to buy clothing from Walmart, I didn't really want to walk into the MSCC wearing something that screamed,

Yeah that's right, she bought me at WALMART!!!!

And, as luck would have it, it's even the kind of top that Courtney keeps telling me I should get. Okay, time to try it on. Now I am a little bit nervous because it has puffed sleeves. Puffed sleeves seem to be really popular right now. And even though I don't have a problem per-say with puffed sleeves, I do think that women with a certain arm circumference are best off avoiding puffed sleeves. I suddenly remember that, this is exactly why I haven't let Courtney talk me into buying one of these shirts. Oh well. Oh well. Desperate times and all.

I do end up getting a much bigger size than I need because those sleeves look SO TIGHT.

And as a matter of fact they were tight.

New dilemma.

Do I get the size that fits me all over but is a little squeezy on my arms? Or do I go with the comfortable arms and look like I am drowning in the shirt?

I decide to do what women have done throughout history. Suffer for fashion. I get the size that fits all over but kinda squeezes my arms.

Boy, if I were only in charge of sizing plus size clothing. Of course that is a whole different blog.

Now I have the top. I have the Capri's. What else do I need?

Proper footwear of course.

I have some really cute white slides that are just a little bit dressy without really being dressy. Yes, Yes, those will be good. But then I start to think. I have been wearing these since last summer and maybe they aren't as nice looking as they use to be because they have seen a lot of wear.

AAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! AGAIN!!!!!

Well I finally came up with a solution that was so perfect I really don't know why it took me so long to think of it. Do you want to know what I finally did? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I told Don to take Shawn and go to it instead of me.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

Shawn's little hobby

2011-06-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

I'm into summer reruns right now at Nonlinear Thinking. And since my Shawn posts are some of my favorites I'm going to lead off with one of them.
And remember, if you haven't read it before then it's new to you!

I don't believe that I have ever mentioned Shawn's love of pencil sharpening.

He came by it quite early.

When he was in Elementary School, about the only behavioral problem his teachers ever had with him was his insistence on taking at least a good five minutes to sharpen his pencil.

And then to compound the problem.

He felt that his pencil needed sharpening at least a couple times a day.

His teachers quickly learned to use pencil sharpening as a reward for him.

He would be allowed sharpening time when he had finished whatever work he was being a bit stubborn about at the time.

It worked out really well. He did his work, he got to sharpen pencils.

As he moved through his older years of school, other inducements were discovered, by other teachers, but Shawn has never lost his love of sharpening pencils.

Now here on the Home Front, I have tried to always have some means of sharpening pencils. I don't use pencils a lot, but if I am going to use one I want it to be good and sharp.

For years, at our old house, we had a nice manual pencil sharpener.

The kind that you attach to a flat surface, stick your chosen pencil into the hole and turn the crank until you achieve the right sharpness. It had different sized holes that you could turn it to, and it did a nice adequate job of pencil sharpening.

As can be imagined, Shawn was quite fond of that sharpener.

And the Sorenson household never lacked for sharp pencils.

Eventually, that classic old sharpener, pretty much wore out.

A decision was made, mostly by me, to replace the old manual, with a nice new electric sharpener.

So I did.

Shawn was of course very interested in the new fangled sharpener. The only problem was that this sharpener made noise.

When he was younger, Shawn was very afraid of loud sudden noises.

Unless, of course, he was the one making them.

It was pretty hard for Shawn to cover his ears and sharpen pencils at the same time.

As a consequence, Shawn kind of gave up pencil sharpening for a while.

The thing with Shawn though, is IF he decides he wants to do something badly enough he will usually find a way to do it.

I'm not sure exactly when he did it, but he somehow decided that he wanted to sharpen pencils more than he wanted to cover his ears.

So after a few months, I would hear that new pencil sharpener start sharpening. If it went on longer than a minute or two, I knew that it was Shawn and not a sibling or husband who simply needed a sharp pencil.

Now to cut to the chase.

I'm not really sure what happened to that electric sharpener. I don't even remember if it made the move from our old house to our new one.

All I know is that for quite a while we didn't have a decent pencil sharpener.
My kids had mostly grown up and finished school. Shawn was the last to leave school, since special needs people can stay in school until they age out at 21.

For whatever reason, we had been making due with this little battery
powered clear plastic sharpener, you know those small little sharpeners that always are around for Back to School shopping, one of those.

I'm afraid that for Shawn that wimpy little sharpener was almost as bad as no sharpener at all.

So for a few years he was in a sharpening slump.

Around September, he started telling me that we needed a new pencil sharpener.

I'm pretty sure it was brought on by all those Back to School ads he kept looking through that came in the Sunday paper every week.

I guess he was suddenly reminded of how he had been missing out for so long.

I figured that I might as well go get a new sharpener.

So I did.

This might sound mean, but I bought it on a trip to Walmart, when Shawn was NOT with me.

I had my reasons.

Buying anything with Shawn around is frustrating.

First of all, he has a really hard time deciding just what it is he wants. And if there are more than two options it can take forever.

Plus, for some reason that I have never understood, he will always find the most expensive of whatever it is I am shopping for and insist on it. He will then have a fit if I don't get that one.

There are times when, even three days later, he is still angry that we didn't get the one HE wanted.

So, I went to the store without him and picked out a new sharpener without his in-put.

This is the best way to do these things.

When I come home from any kind of shopping, Shawn is always there looking through all of the bags to see if there is anything in them to interest him.

Kind of like his own little treasure hunt.

So when he went through the shopping bags and found the new pencil sharpener, he was as excited as if he had picked it out himself.

Instead of mad about it because I didn't get the one that he felt we needed.

So you see, I have worked out a pretty good system for Shawn shopping.

A few hours went by, I was downstairs in my living room reading.

All of a sudden I heard this loud electrical buzzing.

It just kept going and going.

What on earth is that?!?

I ran upstairs to see what was going on.

I don't know why I was surprised. It was Shawn of course.

Sharpening pencils.

Lots of pencils.

I enjoy buying school supplies so much that I have at least seven boxes of unopened, unsharpened, pencils.

Shawn had found them.

Well since that day, Shawn has managed to sharpen and resharpen at least half of our pencil supply.

I think he's pacing himself.

Now, when I am anywhere in the house and I hear that distinctive sound, I just smile.

And know that Shawn is happy, doing what he loves best.

Shawn has graciously agreed to let us watch the process.
Here he is about to stick the pencil (notice how sharp it already is) into his sharpener.

Ahh, is there anything more fun or satisfying than sharpening a pencil?

Hmm, it's only been 2 and a half minutes but mom is getting restless. I guess this will do.

Yes, I guess this is good. Not my best work, but I still can take pride in a well sharpened pencil.

A little bit of Shawn's handiwork.

Anyone need a nice sharp pencil?

From big wows to even BIGGER WOWS

2011-06-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone who cares even a little,

my brother Mike Brinkerhoff
(who btw has his own internet support company "tech services 4 all")
just set me up with my own domain online.

I am now the proud owner of . . . . . . sweetlizzi.com

that's right.

All mine.

It takes you right to my facebook page for my own line of handmade children's clothing.

And how is business you may ask?

Business is great!

At this moment I would like to thank my new friend Esther (she's a friend of Lisa's and noticed some of the dresses I had made for Lex and Lori) And has quickly become my very best customer so far.
Thank You Esther!

If all my friends would like to make me super happy. . . . . .

Of course you won't mind you are all such great people. . . . . .

Then go to sweetlizzi.com and see what happens.
It will take you right to my new little business facebook page that hopefully before too long will be filled with many Sweet Lizzi creations for sale.

And while you are there I would really love it if you would "LIKE" me. To be honest, I'm not even sure how that works but I do know that being "liked" on Facebook for any kind of business is a good thing.

So there you have it. Your very first Non Linear Thinking assignment.

Please please please please please. . . .

Okay, as I gather up what dignity I have left, I can't wait to see my little corner of the .com world fill up with my friends.

Over and Out until next time.

P.S. Silly, silly me, I guess it shows how rusty I have gotten at blogwork, I didn't turn the SweetLizzis into links. Well not to fear I have corrected the problem so click the link to your hearts content.
Thank You!

Wow wow wow!

2011-06-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have neglected my blog for so long, but I have been too busy.

"Busy doing what?" You might ask.

Well, I'll tell you.

Making dresses!

Dresses, dresses, and more DRESSES!

(Lovely little Lindsay modeling one of my dresses)

I had a show to sell my dresses at and have been sewing round the clock to get ready for it. I was a little nervous how well they would sell, because the last show I did (actually, it was also my first one)

I didn't do so well.

This was only my second time to see if the public would like my creations enough to shell out cold hard cash. And,

guess what?

They liked me! They really liked me!!! (sorry Sally Field I couldn't resist)

I sold so many dresses I lost count.
It is such a rush to have other people value what you create.

I loved interacting with my customers.

I LOVED seeing little girls so excited by all the different dresses.

I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED, watching countless mamas liking one dress and their little daughters wanting a different one.

I couldn't wait to get home and count out how much money I made. Are you ready for how much?

Drum

Roll

Please. . . . . . .

dadadadadadadadadadadadadadad. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . I made 406 dollars! . . . . .

I was shocked that I made that much. Up til now I have mostly made dresses to give away.

You know? I do have 5 grandaughters after all. And yes I have sold a few here and there, but never like this.

In one fell swoop.

And even better, I found out about another show on July 9th. For those of you who are local, it will be in the parking lot of the Pasco Yokes on Rd 68. At the far end, in fact right in front of where I get my nails done at Hot Spa Nails. (I can't wait to tell Annie, who does my nails and who knows that I make and sell dresses. I know she will be excited for me)

I have never worked a full time job but that's basically what I will be doing now.

So, poor little blog, you will probably be left to your own devices for a while longer. But don't feel bad. I'll come back as soon as I can.

Here are pictures of a few of the dresses I had yesterday.

I still have this little 4th of July one as well as one more that didn't sell. If you are interested in buying them let me know. It's a little snug on Lex but Lorelai wasn't feeling too cooperative that day. It would fit from a size 3 up to a size 5 to 6 the way it's made to grow with the child. I had it priced at
28$ but it's yours for 20 if you want it.

This one sold. I might have to give Lorelai a treat for modeling tee hee

The one Alexandra is wearing sold, and the one Lori is wearing I got two orders for. One a size larger, and one smaller.

This one sold as well, Thanks Lex. She is always happy to model for me!

This one sold

This one too.

Well, nice chatting with ya! I'm off.

Want to guess what I will be doing? tee hee hee hee

Beware the SCHOOL CARNIVAL a cautionary tale

2011-04-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

A friend's comment on facebook made me start thinking of this.

When Courtney (my youngest in case you are somewhat new to my blog) was in fifth grade at Eastgate Elementary, they had a school Carnival that year in May.

Of course she went.

And of course she won prizes.

And of course one of those prizes had to be two goldfish.

We aren't talking big pretty goldfish mind you (think: Cleo in Disney's Pinocchio) no of COURSE not. They were the cheap little feeder fish that are, or at least were a dime a dozen.

Now Courtney, being a sweet loving child wanted those goldfish to have a nice home. And me, being the loving indulgent mother thought, "why not?"
Straight to Walmart to get a nice round goldfish bowl.

Catch number one; While looking at nice round fish bowls, our attention goes to the nice little 3 gallon Fish Tank. Complete with bubbler and filter.

Have I mentioned Courtney's big brown puppy dog eyes?

Sorenson mother and child go home with nice, slightly more expensive, three gallon Fish Tank, with bubbler and filter.

We get home. I read the instructions. Apparently the water needs to be prepared. A process that promises to take no more than 24 hours. This also requires another run to Walmart to get more ingredients for a successful three gallon fish tank with bubbler and filter.

Cut to next day. . .

The tank is set up, the water is good to go, oh, oh, it appears that one of the fish is swimming a little funny in the makeshift glass jar.

You know? Funny? As in SWIMMING UPSIDE DOWN!

That's right folks, one of those fish was D. E. A. D.

Was Courtney sad about this?

Unfortunately NO.

She wasn't sad because in all of the procuring of goldfish related accessories, she couldn't help but notice that her goldfish were not fancy goldfish. By this point she had seen all of those pretty little, fancy schmancy, long finned, pretty ruffly tailed, differing shades of gold and white, Premium Goldfish.

Long story short; We came home with a fancy schmancy, goldfish.

(I have no proof but I think Courtney was at this point hoping that ordinary, boring, Eastgate Carnival Won, gold fish, would also kick the fishy bucket.)

She got her wish a few days later. Did I suspect foul play? I prefer to not answer that.

Now in case you haven't been doing the math, that left us with ONE, extra fancy schmancy goldfish.

Now, for the sake of time, my little story will pretty much end here, except for me to say that due to a series of events that would soundly put any of the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" books, to complete shame, we ended up with a 15 gallon fish tank, complete with filter, bubbler, little plants and of course a little castle. And just to show how out of hand this had gotten, there were no longer any goldfish (fancy or otherwise) in that 15 gallon, high maintenance beauty.

Nope. Not a ONE.

There were guppies, swordfish, rainbow fish and many others that I don't remember the names of. It was fun. It was educational. But in the end it turned out to be a LOT more work than I had ever envisioned.

So after five years of having fish I sold the entire setup and never once have I looked back. (Well except for now I guess.)

I'm sure by now you have figured out the moral to my little story.

Don't let your child attend anymore School Carnivals!

Advice for a Give Away?

2011-04-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in the mood for another give away. I'm not sure just when but I think sometime this Spring I will be having a give away. I would appreciate any input on what kind of give away to have and what a good prize would be. I kinda liked my pick a number contest that I did last time. I don't know though. I'm open to any ideas you may have. The more input the better. So, that leaves me with only one more thing to say. . . . . .

Your Thoughts?

Pink Toenails? Is that a problem??

2011-04-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your hats because I feel a rant coming on. Apparently people are up in arms because J Crew has a new ad showing a mother painting her young son's toenails. And guess what? Mom and son are LAUGHING and having a GOOD time. I thought, now isn't that so cute. "They" say. . . . HORROR of HORRORS! There we go promoting EVIL! Our children might see this!!! How dare they show something so deviant and shocking! I can't keep quiet about something this stupid. I hope I don't offend any of my friends who read my blog but I have to say what I feel about how screwed up this is. Point number 1 I have never known a little boy who would put up with something like that if he didn't want to. There were times when my children were small when I tried to get one of my boys to try on a dress that I was making because for whatever reason their sister wasn't available. Guess what? They would have NO part of it. And I would never have forced them. . . . . . like I could have anyway. My point here being, that if a mom is painting her sweet little guy's toenails pink it must be because he wants to have her do it. He IS smiling and having a great time after all. Isn't he?!? Now who knows, this little boy may very well have gone off and pounded rocks together and filled up his Tonka trucks with them after his one on one time with mom. Or her may have followed her into the kitchen and helped her make cookies. He may have gone into the family room and watched Disney's Little Mermaid, for the 50th time that month. WHO CARES? What this says to me is that here is a little boy who is right with the world. Here is a child who is safe and cherished and most of all loved and accepted for exactly who he is. Too bad that every child can't find this kind of acceptance from what should be their very first completely safe place. Their home and family. Who knows if the little guy is gay, if he just loves the color pink and is simply too young to know people's prejudices. For whatever reason we do know that he wanted those cute little toenails painted pink. There is absolutely NO shame in that. He may grow up to be absolutely "Straight" in every way. Or he may figure out that along with liking pink toenails he also really likes boys. You know, like as in more than just friends? This brings me to my second point. People can't help but be who they are meant to be. So why on earth do we have to make life so hard for them if they find out that they are different than what society considers NORMAL? I have yet to meet a gay person who I haven't considered normal. They generally want the same things we all do. They want to be loved. They want to enjoy life. They want to have a home and someone to be with. Or maybe they just want to be off exploring the world and it's many wonders. Either by themselves. . . or with a friend. . . . or a partner. Who is anybody to tell them that they need to change? Who has the right to say that a gay or lesbian couple can't enjoy all of the things in life that make life so rewarding? I think it's far more important to work on yourself and becoming the kind of person you want to be than to worry about others that may have different feelings than you do. As a final thought, they were talking about the little boy with his pretty pink toenails today on the Today show. Apparently, the polls are divided 50/50 of people who find it harmless, sweet and cute and people who find it shocking and horrible and how dare J Crew display something so depraved. Some idiot from the latter group was quoted saying that the "poor kid is going to end up needing counseling and intense therapy when he is older" What a bunch of HOGWASH! I think it's just the opposite. Here is a child who is loved and fully accepted for just who he is. How can anybody feel anything but good about that? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen the statistics on the high rate of teenage, gay, lesbian and transgendered suicides. Is that actually considered preferable to the alternative of loving and accepting each and every person for who they truly are? If so, then this really is a sad, sad world, and I want to make sure my voice is heard on the side of LOVE and ACCEPTANCE. I accept that many people don't share my beliefs but I hope you will at least give mine a little bit of consideration. Who knows, you may end up with someone you love facing these same challenges. Thanks for reading and I would love comments as long as they aren't nasty.

My camera My enemy?

2011-03-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Monday night I decided that we needed to get a new camera, we've had our old one for at least 6 years. It's a nice little digital number. Digital seemed like such a big deal at the time. We payed a little over 200 for it and that seemed like a real bargain. For Christmas I got a really nice little Fugi for my daughter Courtney. It was just under 100 dollars and she loves it. So I was thinking it was time for us to get something that had more mega pixels. And maybe, just maybe, instead of losing the manual, this time, we would actually keep it and read it and for once. . . . figure out just how to use the silly thing. I ran it past Don when he got home Monday evening and he was up for it. I had thought about going to Target since that was where I got Courtney's camera. Don thought that Costco would be a better choice. At first I objected. I had in mind a nice inexpensive, easy to use, little Point and Shoot picture taker, that for all intents and purposes would be pretty much. . . . . umm. . . Idiot Proof? Don won out and Costco it was. I walked right past the BIG cameras. You know, the ones for people that take classes. No, no. None of that for us. I didn't want to end up with a 700 dollar camera that we would need extensive college training just to take a simple birthday picture of someone blowing out their candles. I had to interrupt these two Costco employees who were standing around chatting. (I mean that's not what they are paid for, and I refuse to wait for two employees to finish a conversation so that I can get some help) The guy that stayed to help was actually pretty good. He knew quite a lot about cameras. And got the jest of what we were looking for in no time. I was most interested in the little Cannon Sure Shot Point n Shoot. Unfortunately they were out of stock at the moment. By the time he had finished showing me just how simple a little camera that old P&S was, wouldn't ya know it, Don had turned the corner, and, was looking at the more expensive, tons of features, instruction book an inch and a half thick, gotta have cameras. Crap. I knew that would happen! And right on his heels, is the helpful Costco employee who just seconds before had been showing me that nice little Cannon Point n Shoot Sure Shot, following Don, and saying to him, "now this one is really great!" Great. I speak up and remind everyone concerned that my whole idea, really, was to buy a camera that we don't need to take a math class and pass a written exam to be able to operate. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, NO!" (says the Costco guy) "trust me, this camera has so many great features and one of them is even a Point and Shoot mode". I have to admit, it is a pretty cool camera. In fact that camera does so many wonderful things I'm still not completely sure if we even have to be there. Not only that, it was normally 189.00 with an in store, instant rebate, coupon type thingy that means it's actually only 159.99. How do I argue with that? Don looks at me and says "Well what do you think? I think we should get this one?!?" Notice how he makes it sound like it's up to me? Sure why not. I do stick in the idea that I can always come back later and get myself that little Sure Shot when they get more of them. An hour later. . . . . there I am. . . . in my bedroom. . . . . opening up the new camera. It looks friendly enough. I take out the manual. The first four pages are all of the things that you SHOULD NOT DO. Now I'm almost afraid to even touch the silly thing. I do put the batteries in it. I turn it on. Everything in our room in the view screen looks dark yellow. I knew it. I KNEW IT! Just like that, I know that this camera and I will most likely NEVER be friends. Don comes in and I show the greatly exaggerated yellowness to him. Is he upset? Is he worried? No. But he is also completely fooled by this new (has it in for me already) camera. "Well of course that's how it looks" he says "because our walls have a yellowish tint and everything in here is yellowish like that". Don is one of the biggest, advanced technology enablers I have ever known. If it does something he doesn't understand then he just figures it's doing what it's supposed to and we just don't get it. I'm just the opposite. I know perfectly well that the picture in the viewing window should look just exactly like what the room looks like. I think Don figures that WE are the ones not seeing the great yellowness of our surroundings, that this superior piece of technology can see with one arm tied behind it's stupid back. He decided to look over the manual and figure it all out. I decided to watch TV. Every once in a while he will speak up and say things like. . . "Hey, this is really cool" "You know, I think you are really going to like this camera" "This looks like it will be pretty easy to use. I don't think we'll have any problems with it at all." Ummhmm. Yeah, that's nice. I made a mental note to look into local college courses for Engineering and Pre-Calculus, I think we're going to need them.

Next Stop Carnegie Hall

2011-03-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have GOT to share this!

These are my two grandaughters Alexandra and Lorelai.

They are incredibly musically talented, but even I was blown away when I saw this on my daughter in law's blog.
Now I have been lucky enough to be the special guest at many of their little spontaneous concerts.
Lex plays the violin, (she's somewhat of a prodigy like her mama) and Miss Lori has been playing the piano for less than two years and at six years old is already in a quite advanced book that kids several years older have trouble with.

The bells were a Christmas present for their sister my youngest grandaughter Elisabeth, who as most of you know is profoundly mentally retarded even though she is a complete joy to all who know her.

So without further adieu, this proud Grandmother presents two of her darling talented little grandbabies!

P.S. I don't know how many remember me pointing this out before but my little Lorelai is the spitting image of that cute little Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame.
Okay, enough grandma bragging for one day.

ENJOY!

Good bye etsy

2011-03-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

As most of my long time readers know I am a seamstress, and I have a shop on etsy. You can go see for yourself. TwiddleSticks
I'm afraid though that etsy, while still unknown to a lot of people has strayed away from it's original intent of being a place for individuals (as in ONE person ONE shop) to sell what they make with their own hands.

At least as far as children's clothing is concerned.

When I first joined in Spring of 2008, I had modest success and sold 6 dresses. I kind of lost interest though and let my store fade away. I tried to resurrect it last summer with new dresses but. . .

NO LUCK.

So I kind of lost interest again.

Then I went to a small neighborhood craft show with my little dresses and had a fairly successful time with that, so I decided to try etsy again.

Crickets. . . .

Yup that's right. NOTHING.

I think that the problem is that etsy now belongs to a few large concerns who seem to have the market cornered as far as children's fashions go. Shops that sell and have sold thousands of items.

Now tell me does that sound possible for one person and her sewing machine?

No. I don't think so either.

In the meantime I have been approached by a friend of my daughter-in-law Lisa. Her name is Nancy and she also knows the frustration of competing against the BIG GUYS. So she has gone and made her very own Internet store and wants to sell my dresses.

I figure, why not?

So very soon I will most likely be taking everything off etsy and moving them to Nancy's site. I'm also on the lookout for local craft fairs and bazaars.
In the meantime, I'm just going to keep on making the little girls dresses and tops that I love to make. Some for my beautiful little grandaughters and some to sell.
Will I be successful at last?

We'll see.

Lucky for me, I'm not in a position where I really need the money.
It's just my little hobby and making money is simply a lovely side benefit.
Here are some pictures of some of my latest creations.

Enjoy!

This darling little lady is my 8 year old grandaughter Alexandra.
This is my friend Charlene's daughter Lilly modeling a dress I made for her.
I call this one the Birdcage Dress. Charlene is buying this one for her youngest daughter Tessa.

And here is my beautiful little 6 year old grandaughter Lorelai modeling this sweet little blue and white checkered top I made a few days ago.

I'll put up a link to Nancy's shop when my dresses are on there for sale.

My American Idol Favorite

2011-03-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm really enjoying the new judges on this Season of American Idol, I'm not into many of the contestants. Lisa and I have the same number one favorite

James Durbin

He is not only a completely adorable young Kurt Russell look-alike, he is as real and likable as any contestant has ever been.

He has Tourette Syndrome as well as Aspergers, which makes him seem a bit twitchy and jerky but I think that is a big part of what makes him completely genuine and unguarded in a way that few people in the spotlight ever are.

This week he gave an incredible performance and Jennifer mentioned that he was going to have girls swooning all over him.

Without even a second to think about it, he simply pointed to his Wedding Band.
Now with some of the contestants that would be more for show than anything,
but for James it was a completely spontaneous reaction that was so sweet and unconscious that you know this is a guy who would never even consider any other woman than the (in his words) "Angel" that he is married to.

I hope he makes it through to the very end. I predict that it will end up with him and Lauren as the final two.

I hope that's how it works out. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the judges are saving their one save on the horrible chance that either James or Lauren get voted off.

If I was a judge that's what I would do.

Who knows though. Who do you like so far?

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

2011-03-13T04:26:00.000-07:00

What does one do at 3:30 in the morning when one can't sleep?

Why gets up and writes a new post for her poor neglected little blog of course.
This is one I've wanted to do for a while and kept forgetting about.

When I'm in my sewing room, well, sewing, I almost always have my stereo on listening to music. That's where my stereo lives, as well as my (also neglected) iPod.

I have a pretty wide range of music that I enjoy.

The other day I was listening to my Carly Simon compilation cd that I burned for myself several years ago. You know? Carly Simon?

You're So Vain

Anticipation ( no, it's not just a ketchup commercial song)

Nobody Does It Better (James Bond. The Spy Who Loved Me)

That Carly Simon. I love her. It's one of my go to cds for when I don't know what I want to listen to.
Anyway, to get to my point. One of my most favorite of her songs is titled,

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

I LOVE this song. It's about fidelity. It's about long time love. It's a reminder that even though the grass may look greener on the other side of the hill. . . .

That when you get there you will find that what you thought was a lot of green are actually a ton of weeds.

I can't usually listen to this one just once, I usually hit replay. There aren't a lot of songs out there that speak to the beauty of being in a long steady solid marriage. That at times may seem old and boring, when in reality is safe, and warm and comforting. With a long history of shared memories.

Shared experiences.

Shared hardships.

Shared joys.

I guess you would have to say that it's. . . . . .

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

I can't hear this song without thinking of my husband Don and how much I love him, and all the things we've been through together in our 34 1/2 years of marriage.

If you've never heard the song or have forgotten about it here are the lyrics.

Take a look around now

Change the direction

Adjust the tuning

Try a new translation

Don't look at your man in the same old way

Take a new picture

Just because you don't see shooting stars

Doesn't mean it isn't perfect

can't you see...

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

It's the slow and steady fire

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

It's your heart and soul's desire

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

So what's this about your best friend?

She's got a brand new shiny boy

And they're moving out to Malibu

To play with all his pretty toys

And you feel closed in by the same four walls

The same old conversation

With the same old guy you've know for years

But use your imagination

And you will see....

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

It's the slow and steady fire

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

It's your heart and soul's desire

It's the stuff that dreams are made of

What if the Prince on the horse in your fairytale

Is right here in disguise

And what if the stars you've been reaching so high for

Are shining in his eyes

Don't look at yourself in the same old way

Take another picture

Shoot the stars off in your own backyard

Don't look any further

And you will see It's the stuff that dreams are made of....

Aaaaah. Perfection. An ode to real love. Real, long lasting love. There just plain isn't anything better.
And since I can't possibly improve on ( and wouldn't even try) what Carly has so beautifully put into words. . . and song, I will close out this post by putting the spot light where it belongs. . . .

Note : Apparently, there isn't an official video of this song but this one is really nice.
Enjoy!

A Helpful Little Tid Bit (of the breakfast kind)

2011-03-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

In the interest of making my blog an all purpose, well rounded, little Slice Of Heaven. . . .
I am offering this nice little tip to all my friends out there in Blog Land.

I know, I know, could Non Linear Thinking possibly get any better.

Well check this out and then You tell Me.

How often do you have Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat for breakfast?

I am going to share my favorite way to enjoy hot cereal.

Instead of buying flavored instant Oatmeal, or GAG, that crime against nature known as Instant Cream of Wheat, Here is what I do:

I buy those tasty little, flavored non-dairy creamers. French Vanilla, Irish Cream, Sweet Italian Cream, Caramel Vanilla Cream. . . . You get the picture.

And then I mix a couple of tablespoons into my hot cereal along with the milk. Most of the time you don't even need any sugar.

I never knew that Oatmeal could taste so good.

And, my all time favorite hot cereal, Cream Of Wheat (not the icky instant kind of course) is even creamier and more delicious than I ever thought possible.

Try it. And then let me know what you think.

The Curious Case of the Jumbo Bag of Peanut M&MS

2011-02-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

It's no big secret that I am a candy lover.

(Something I'm trying to conquer btw)

I enjoy a wide variety of sweets, but chocolate has been a favorite indulgence my entire life. Nothing ground breaking there of course, who doesn't love chocolate?

Umm, my daughter Courtney for one. But, I digress.

A few weeks ago we received the latest Costco Coupon book in the mail. It didn't have a coupon for the 8-pack-of-300-count-box-of-Kleenex I was hoping for (hopefully next time) but it did have another one of my favorite and most highly valued coupons I've come to expect every third time or so.

2.50 off a bag of M&Ms limit 2

Ahh yes. Nothing like saving five bucks on approximately 120 ounces of sweet, crunchy, candy coated, chocolate heaven.
I got one bag of peanut and one of plain.
I tend to favor peanut slightly more, I have to admit, but sometimes the simplicity of a handful of plain M&Ms can fulfill that craving for chocolate like nothing else on Earth.

Okay, 10:26 that evening.

Two, as yet unopened, nicely discounted, jumbo sized, bags of M&Ms sitting there on my dresser.

Were they calling my name?

Of course they were. And the fact that I was headed in to my bathroom to brush my teeth before hitting the sheets did not escape my mind. I decided that a small handful of Peanut M&Ms before I brushed my teeth wouldn't really hurt anything.

I opened the big, yellow, bag. I took probably 7 umm, fine, 12 of those tasty little morsels.

Chew, chew. . chew. . . . chew?

What the . . . . . .

Something was not right with those Peanut M&Ms.

They were chewy. They were soggy. They were not the same chocolaty treat that I have been enjoying for most of my 53 years.

It was like someone had bag-jacked my newly acquired, jumbo bag of Peanut M&Ms and filled it with, what I can only guess. . . . generic, candy coated chocolate pieces, must taste like.

(I have always wondered about those strange imitators. Who on earth would buy fake M&Ms???????)

I went back to the bag and took out a few more. This time I dug to the bottom. (As if that would make any difference.) Yuck, yuck and

YUCK!!

Going against every natural instinct I've ever had, I threw that handful of those (so called) Peanut M&Ms AWAY.

Needless to say, sleep did NOT come easy that night. I couldn't stop thinking about what on earth had happened to M&Ms. Why would they change a formula that was perfect. Was the M&M/Mars company so hurt by the current economy that they had come up with a new recipe for M&Ms that saved money.

This isn't as ridiculous as it may sound.

I KNOW that the cream inside Oreos has been changed. The truly subversive thing is that it seems every other bag of Oreos I buy, the creamy white filling tastes pretty much like it always has. But then I will buy a bag and there is a definite difference in taste and texture.

I also know that my once loved JUJYFRUITS changed their formula several months ago. I can't describe the difference other than they now taste watery. Needless to say I've kicked my Jujyfruits habit.

Okay, back to my M&Ms problem.

Like I say, I did not sleep well that night. This is slightly embarrassing to admit to but hey, this is for posterity after all. I think I must have spent close to two hours coming up with a contingency plan. I was going to go to Walmart, Fred Meyer, Target and maybe even Walgreens and buy up as many bags of M&Ms as I could.

I figured that most stores had not yet been infiltrated by these new inedible M&Ms. I was going to secure for myself at least a year's supply of the old ones. I was even deliberating over the best methods to make them last. At one point I was almost ready to get up out of bed and draw up an M&Ms consumption chart.

I realized that I would most likely be called upon at some point to share.

I decided it would only be with immediate family. (Yes, of course that included my grandchildren. What kind of a monster do you think I am.)

I don't really remember when or how I fell asleep. But I know that my last conscious thought was that I would call the 800 number on the bag as soon as I woke up.

And I did.

As I sat there wading through all of the different options, (You know, that sweet computer voice that tries so hard to not let you talk to a REAL person) I reminded myself to stay calm. Funny how you can manage calm and rational much easier in the light of day than at 11:45 at night.

I actually got through to someone pretty quickly. A pleasant young woman named Angie. I was a little flustered at first. I realized that I should have planned my strategy before I got to a real person.

What to do? What to do?

Do I start out by demanding answers? Do I ask why on earth the M&M Mars Company has messed with perfection. Or do I take the sympathy, sob story route. Hmm.

I settled for middle ground.

I simply told Angie that I had been to Costco the night before and had bought 2 bags of M&Ms. I described their taste and texture. And then I ended with a short, heartfelt plea, to change the formula back to how it was.

I was asked if I had the bag close by.

I did.

I was asked to give her all of the pertinent numbers on said bag.

I did.

A few moments of silence followed.

Oh Please, Oh Please, Oh Please!

Angie got back to me a few minutes later. With some interesting news, AND some really good news. She gave me the interesting news first. Apparently, the bag of Peanut M&Ms I had in my possession should never have been sent out.

Yet.

They had only been manufactured the week before. They needed time to ripen. Yes you heard me right. THEY WERE NOT RIPE!

She promised me that the recipe for M&Ms had not been changed. There is however a ripening process that takes a couple of months before they are shipped out to stores all over America to be enjoyed by people like me. She told me the best thing to do with my, way too fresh, jumbo sized bags of M&Ms would be to put them somewhere preferrably cool and dark and let them sit for about 6 to 8 weeks.

Who KNEW!?!

Now for the really good news. She told me that she would be sending me several coupons to make it up to me for having been unfortunate enough to have gotten my hands on a couple of bags of unripe M&Ms. The coupons came less than a week later. There were two 5 dollar ones, good for any M&M/Mars products and then two 1 dollar ones.

WOW! Twelve dollars in coupons! Was it wrong of me to feel like I had just hit the M&Ms JACKPOT? I decided. . . .

absolutely not.

I had bought them from Costco in good faith. I had spent a sleepless night. Damn right I should get some kind of compensation.

So that's my story.

I hope that you will remember this if you ever end up with your own unripe bag of M&Ms. As for me, I am almost finished with my last big bag that I got with one of those 5 dollar coupons.

The (sweet) End

Ten Things

2011-02-25T11:42:00.001-08:00

#1. Ya know it's not really do-able to eat an orange and type at the same time. Well at least not if you care about such things as avoiding a sticky, wet keyboard.

#2. Matt Damon. I've always found him adorable. All of a sudden though he has left cute behind and become just plain. . . . . .

HOT and SEXY

enough said.

#3. I seem to be on a DARK Chocolate kick right now. Ten thumbs up for Lindt Super Dark Chocolate Truffles.

Need I say more.

#4. I think maybe I complained too early. The Scotty kid on American Idol is actually showing a little bit of promise. It will be interesting to see how he does in other musical genres.

#5. Who in her right mind spends 250 bucks on an ipod classic with capacity for up to 60,000 songs and then stuffs it into a drawer in her sewing room because she has NO IDEA how to use the damn thing.

#6. Umm. . . That would be me.

#7. I still have the receipt. Do you think I should take it back?

#8. Will someone please come clean out the litter box. Because, no, I don't do cat s--t.

#9. Hey David, did you see that HGTV is now having an UGGHH

MANCAVE giveaway?!?

#10. Ya know the whole "Tree Falls In The Forest Philosophy Scenario"?
Well. . . . if I keep my bedroom door shut because I don't feel like making my bed does anyone CARE????

Sometimes it's good to be wrong

2011-02-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

I've been an American Idol fan for, I think, the last four years. I had watched parts of the seasons before then but I never really got into it.

And then last year it was announced that Simon would be leaving the show.

Which means that Randy Jackson would be the only original judge left. I figured that the show would perhaps stagger through one more season as it gave into a slow, agonizing, when will they put it out of it's misery, death.
I definitely wasn't going to give it the honor of my viewership.

My how things can change.

Due to the fact that there are so few shows on that I want to watch anymore, I decided to tune in at least once to see how much of a travesty it had become. And guess what? I LIKED IT! Even though I've always been an Aerosmith fan, I didn't really have much exposure to Steven Tyler as a person. I always thought of him as a typical, egocentric, slightly sleazy, rock star who had only one thing on his mind. (Besides music that is)

I can't believe how completely wrong I was.

He is strong, caring, motivational, even, dare I say, paternal. He speaks his mind, letting those without a shred of talent know that they better have a good day job, without resorting to mean and nasty. As for those who have true talent, whether polished or diamond in the rough, he is very helpful and supportive.

Why on earth did I ever think that Simon had it right?

And then there is Jennifer Lopez. I've always liked her. And in this platform I absolutely LOVE her. She is every bit as kind and encouraging as Paula ever was, but in a more realistic way. She doesn't have Paula's "Flake Factor". She comes across as a really sweet, cool, nurturing, big sister.

All together, I feel that the show has a brand new energy, and promise.

It certainly doesn't feel old and stale anymore.

I also think that there are some really talented contestants as well. Hopefully they will be winnowed down appropriately this year. One in particular that I want to see shown the door, is this kid, with a deep baritone voice named Scotty (the kid not the voice) who has apparently perfected his imitation of Country singer Josh Turner's song "Be Your Man".

(I swear, if I have to hear. . . Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low, one more time.)

Talk about your One Trick Pony.

All in all though, I am so enjoying this season of American Idol. I hope that if any of you who used to watch the show but have given up on it due to the various lame strategies it has employed over the last few seasons, will give it another watch.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

Happy Birthday Kelly!!!!!

2011-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Quick!

Who is blonde. . .

Very good looking. . . .

A college student. . . .

Still living at home, but that's okay because he is after all. . . .

A college student. . .

Really smart and creative. . . .

A writer. . . .

Plans to spend the day at the movie theater watching at least three new films. . . .

And then later have a date with me for dinner at Red Lobster. . .

Because he turns 29 today. . . .

My son Kelly!!!!

Love you much you Middle Child you!!!!!!

What goes around comes around. . Sometimes

2011-02-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks! I know I should sit myself down and churn out a nice new post for my faithful readers. But I honestly seem to have hit a dry spell. So, I thought to myself;
"Self, what's the point of having all those old posts that you spent hours on if you can recycle one of them now and then."
I decided to go through my circa 2009 blog files looking for a post that got a lot of comments. This one fit the bill. So yes it is a re-run. But if you weren't with me in 2009, it could be new to you.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading it again. Can anybody ever really get enough of news that is as true as it is stupid?
So here you are. A nice, thought provoking, semi-old, (but still fairly fresh) post.

Enjoy!

Today in the paper, I read a story, about a Funeral Home being shut down because an employee had to cut a dead guy's legs off to get him to fit in the coffin his family had bought for him.

Now I realize that to the average Joe this might come across as a little gruesome. The problem wasn't so much that he had cut the guy's legs off, it was that he hadn't gotten the family's permission to do it.

Here's the thing.

The dead guy was 6 foot 7. I think we can all agree that he was quite tall.
So why on earth would the family have thought they could go the cheap route with a standard size casket if they

A. Knew he would be too long for it. And. .

B. Didn't realize that the only way to squish him in there, would have been to cut either some off his top or his bottom.

I think the dead guy's family would have REALLY blown their tops if funeral boy, had gone with the head and neck instead of the legs and feet.

And amid all of this I just can't help but wonder,Who Cares Anyway!?!

Well, apparently the State of South Carolina does. The Funeral Home has been shut down. Not necessarily because they cut off the guy's legs, but that they did it without his family's permission!

That's right.

The same family that didn't even think to ask if a 6 foot 7 inch tall man would actually fit into a standard size casket.
Which, by the way, happens to be 84 inches long.

That's true.

I did research.

Okay, if this is all that had happened it would be a semi-funny, but kinda creepy, typical news story.
But wait, there was more.
It appears that in the State of South Carolina it is against the law to cut up a corpse.
That is of course unless the family has actually agreed to it. If there is consent then they can cut the dead to fit in whatever casket they want to use.

I assume that means within reason.

I doubt if it would be allowed to cut someone in half so that they could fit into that pretty little (and slightly cheaper) casket meant for a ten year old.
Alright, so we now know that cutting a dead person up without permission
is a crime in SC.

But here comes the really ridiculous part.

The standard sentence for the guilty chopper is ten years. Ten Years!
Can you believe that?
There could possibly be someone in South Carolina's State Pen who's "crime" was cutting a few inches off a corpse to make him fit in the casket the family had bought for him.

I can't believe that, with all the talk nowadays, about overcrowded prisons, that the courts would actually be stupid enough to use up a cell for some poor schlump who was only doing his job the way he thought best.

Granted ,the article did say that cutting up a corpse was the crime.

So I guess they could also be referring to the serial killer who's freezer is chock full of frozen fillet of human.
I guess it might be meant to cover more heinous crimes like that.

But I still think it's pretty stupid.

If someone has been caught with a chain saw and a bunch of fresh human parts, then I think it's pretty clear that what they have here is a really, bad, guy.
He should be facing the death penalty or at least the rest of his life in prison.
And the fact that he took his jollies in cutting up what he had just killed?

Well sure, I guess. Go ahead and tack on ten more years to his sentence.

But, if it happens to be some unlicensed Funeral Home worker, who forgot to ask the grieving family for their permission to make sure that Grandpa fits nicely in his too small coffin?

For heaven's sake.
Fine the guy a few hundred and get on with it.

Save that prison cell for someone who really deserves it.

Next time I'll just change the channel

2011-02-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

This will be short and sweet. Well maybe not sweet. It is a bit of a rant after all.
Here Goes;
If I have to listen to one more moron on HGTV go on about his great need for a

MAN CAVE

I swear I will . . . . .

Oh hell, I probably won't really do anything. I am a grown up after all and, "I swear I will, blank blank blank blank. . ."
is really just a lame empty promise.
It just really makes me crazy to hear that imbecilic phrase.

MAN CAVE.

Geez.

Can anything be more stupid.

Just when you think this world is finally starting to understand that women are every bit as worthy as men, some idiot (I would love to know, just who, came up with the idea of a Man Cave in the first place) decides that poor, under served, put upon, discriminated against,
men,
need a place where they can go to let off steam. Where they can have all of their friends over and watch sports and be as foul and obnoxious as they want with NO WOMEN ALLOWED!

Of course the true MAN CAVE can't be some small little nook. Heaven forbid if he can't stretch out and take up an entire floor with all of his stuff.
Never once do I hear a woman on any of these shows demand anything more than maybe an office. And that is generally one that she will share with her husband.
And don't you dare say that;

"A woman has her KITCHEN".

That is right up there with giving her a vacuum cleaner for Valentines Day.

Please don't misunderstand me.
I don't hate men. I love men. I'm married to one. I gave birth to three of them. In fact I am very proud of the fact that my only married son is a wonderful husband and father who is as "hands on" as he could possibly be. He treats his wife like the treasured Queen, that she truly is.

Just don't expect me to sympathize with those ego consumed men, who for whatever reason think that they and only they should have an entire downstairs family room devoted only to them.

Trust me guys. Women have just as much need for a place to unwind and unload at the end of a long day. Or week. So if you have been led to believe that you have some inalienable right to a room set aside just for you. That your needs and the pressures of life simply can't be dealt with without a place all your own, then go ahead and do it.

Right after you have first provided the same kind of room for the woman in your life!

Finding my way back

2011-02-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

Something happened last week that I've decided to write down. It concerns my mother and Shawn.

I guess that makes it kind of profound.

You know, in the Blogging is a useful method of documenting the important moments of your life for posterity, way.

Well last week, partly to make it up to Shawn for so cold heartedly leaving him all alone for FIVE LONG DAYS,

Oh. Hold on. I realize an explanation is in order. . . .

Explanation: To Shawn's way of thinking if I am not here then he is. .

HOME ALL ALONE

It doesn't matter how many other responsible AIC's (adults in charge) happen to be on premises. If I am not here then my poor little waif of a sad, despairing, broken hearted, lonely Shawn is Home Alone.

So, to make it up to my funny little, long suffering guy, I let him come with me on Wednesday last, to do some grocery shopping and such.
I never have to ask him twice by the way, here is an example ;

Me: (at the bottom of the stairs calling up to Shawn) Oh Sha-awn?
Cue to the sudden sound of

thump
thump
thump
thump
thump
thump
thump

(that would be Shawn coming down the stairs as fast as his feet will carry him.)

Shawn: Yes Mom?!?!

Me: Hey, Buddy. Would you like to come to Walmart with me?

Silly, silly question. Shawn could be on his death bed and would still not turn down a chance to go Walmart with me.

Me: Well, get upstairs and get on your shoes (he is always barefoot in the house) and grab your coat and lets go.

thump
thump
thump
thump
thump
thump
thump

and a mere three minutes later (four minutes tops) he is right back down stairs and ready to go.

Now!

I realize that it is closing in on lunch time and that I haven't really had what could be thought of as a respectable meal yet for the day. I figure that Mr Shawn must be about ready for a little something as well.

Alright.

Lunch before shopping.

And, as luck will have it, the closest McDonald's is right next to the conveniently located Walmart just up the road.

I look in my purse to check my wallet for available funds. I like to know before hand if it will be cash or debit. I'm not sure why, but I first look in the non-wallet section of my purse.
This is the section of my purse I like to think of as No Man's Land. A collection of coupons, napkins, note pads, pens, various small trinkets that I really have no use for, a few wadded up napkins that I blew my nose with and haven't had a chance to throw away yet.

Don't JUDGE Me!

I look a little deeper because I see what looks like a white envelope. I pull it out and see Shawn's name written on it.
The realization of what I have in my hand suddenly hits me like a ton of bricks.

My mom for the last several years has gotten my children each a McDonald's gift card for Christmas. She handed them out on Christmas Eve to my kids, my grandchildren and my sister Janice's two children. I took Shawn's and put it straight away in my purse to keep it safe.
I had somehow completely forgotten about it until that moment when I fished it out of the jungle that is my purse.

Keep in mind that my mom had died, not even two weeks ago at this time.

I think I must have experienced at least ten different emotions in a span of maybe three seconds.
I was a little choked up as I turned to Shawn and said,

"Shawn. Guess what?"

I handed him the envelope and reminded him that Grandma had given it to him Christmas Eve night. Remember, I said, that I put it in my purse to keep it safe for you?

Of course he remembered.

I don't know if it occurred to him the significance that he was going to use the card that he had gotten from my mom before she died, not even a month later.

No, if he did he didn't let on.

He just grinned from ear to ear and said
"well, that was real nice of Grandma to give me this card, wasn't it"
"You bet it was" I said.
"really really nice."

I turned to him and told him that he could get whatever he wanted with that card.
I sometimes put the brakes on his ordering because he will want one of the biggest fanciest sandwiches,

BUT

No Lettuce
No Cheese
No Tomato
No Bacon
No Sauce

Basically what he ends up with is a very expensive plain burger or crispy chicken sandwich with only mustard.
When I have my way, what I will get him is maybe two McDoubles with only mustard.
I do have to give Shawn a little credit here.
Lately he has started to allow his sandwich to keep everything it comes with and after a few brave bites he pulls off the rest of the tomato.

Last Wednesday, with his "Grandma given" ten dollar McDonald's gift card in hand, I let him order whatever he wanted.

He got one of the outrageously priced crispy chicken sandwiches. In fact he (with a little urging on my part) made it a full meal.

We sat down to a lovely little lunch, courtesy of my mother. . . .

and. . . .

as Shawn chattered on about where he would be when we made it up the parking lot to Walmart,

I just sat there thinking. . .

of how funny

things can work out sometimes. . .

Yes, I sat there partly listening to my sweet boy

as I said,

another

silent,

loving

goodbye

to my mom.

How about that Weather?

2011-01-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

What is it about the weather that makes it such a universal topic of small talk?

Ya know?

Small Talk?

That little sub-category of conversation that is usually employed in situations where you,
A. Don't know someone.
B. Don't particularly like someone, but still find it necessary to make polite conversation.
or
C. Know someone. Like them. But for matters too varied to count, find yourself at a loss as to just what to talk about with them.

It's times like these that makes the subject of "Weather" such a vital component of conversational dexterity.

The beauty of "Weather Talk" (hereafter referred to as WT) is that it is not only always relevant, but in many cases an important and even interesting topic of "safe" conversation.

WT, is more than suitable for those times when anything is better than that uncomfortable, awkward, stony silence that seems to creep up on you in moments of social clumsiness.
If I had my way, WT would be thought of as more than just a device of last resort.

No, no, no.

Talking about the Weather is much safer than trying to casually discuss things as varied as,

oh. . . .

say. . . .

Politics. .

Religion. .

Proper methods of Toilet Training. .

Vegetarian versus Carnivore. .

or that dreaded conversational Black Hole. . . . . . .

Whether or not you approved of the final episode of ABC's Lost.

I used to be almost embarrassed if I caught myself bring up the weather when talking to friends. But I decided a few years ago that most people really do care about what is happening,

Right outside their door.

WT, also seems to be one topic where you don't have to agree with each other to have a pleasant little chat. I think it's because weather is just one of those things in life that no one takes personally.

Take me for instance.

I have made it known a few times that I HATE Snow.
I do.
I will go so far as to say that I don't even really ever wish for a
White Christmas.
I can think of a lot of things that I would love for Christmas and Snow is not one of them.
I know that I am most likely alone in my rigid opinions on snow.

But guess what?

It's okay.

It's okay, because nobody can really blame me if they do or don't have a White Christmas. Now can they?

Oh come ON!

You know perfectly well that my opinions on snow have absolutely NO effect on your enjoyment of Winter time festivities.

And that, in a nutshell, is why WT is a perfect topic for anyone, not quite sure how to proceed, in an uncomfortable, grasping for something to say (anything) type of situation.

So don't be embarrassed if you find yourself falling back on WT, while talking to your eighth grade math teacher that you just happened to run into in the "Bra and Pantie" section of your local J.C. Penneys.

It's fine. Just fine.

Chat about those drab grey skies that have been sticking around long after Al Roker declared them obsolete.
Laugh about the rainfall amount and how it will affect this years asparagus crop.
Debate, back and forth on whether this year's Spring seems to be taking longer to show up than last years.

It's all good. There really is no wrong way to talk about the weather. It affect us all.

In fact I feel I can safely say that tomorrow in just about every

Kindergarten Class

in this great nation of ours, little Brook, or Hunter, will be asked to come up to the flannel board and put the picture of Mr Sun, Mr Rain, Mr Wind or Mr Fog up for all the class to see.

You see? This fascination with the weather really does start early. So, if you want to use it as fodder for your next unplanned and slightly uncomfortable bumping into your kid's best friend's mom, go right ahead and do it.

There are a lot worse things you could do than point out just how awful (or great) the weather has been of late.

Some much needed time away

2011-01-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

Don and I have needed some time away.

Badly.

Our daughter Heidi and her husband Jeff and our two oldest granddaughters Abbey and Lindsay have been living with us for the last five months.
We have had our issues of course, but at the same time I can't help but feel lucky to have great front row seats to watching the girls grow up.

One of the BIG benefits to having extra adults in our household is that Don and I can actually take off and know that someone will be here to watch over Shawn.

I don't know why it's taken us five, long, months to actually get around to getting away. Let's just blame it on me being a talented procrastinator.

With my mom's rapid decline, her passing away and then the funeral, I decided (when all was finally said and done, and mom laid neatly to rest) that it was high time for us to make a break for it. So last Thursday we took off to Portland Oregon.

I love Portland.

A mere three hours drive
and,
we are in a major American city,
that,
wonder of wonders,
has,

No Sales Tax!

That's right. We go from the agonizing pain, of adding a disarming 8.3%, to everything we buy (except most food) to an incredible. . . . .

Cornucopia of Carefree Spending,

where even in restaurants, the price stated is exactly what you pay.
Well, plus tip of course. Portland is civilized after all.

That's not the only thing to love about Portland. It really is a charming and beautiful place. And the people are, for the most part,

just

plain

nice!

This time we did things a little different. Something we've never ever done before.

Quite often our trips to other places, ie, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, are marred by the fact that we usually spend onerous amounts of time driving around trying to find wherever it is we want to go.

This.

Is.

NOT.

Fun!

Don and I start out with the and best and most loving of intentions, I swear we do.
But, give us even half an hour of trying to find the right exit, while keeping track of which freeway we are on, and at the same time making sure we don't end up inadvertently going the wrong way down a one-way street. (a specialty of Don's.)
Well, what can I say, I admit it.

We end up getting really pissed off at each other.

Now trust me when I say that, this isn't exactly conducive to a harmony filled get away.

So, several months ago, we got ourselves a nice new Tom Tom Navigational Device. And it actually works. A little annoying at times. It (or should I say, she) uses a few phrases and words that makes me wonder if it/she was made somewhere other than the good old U S of A. These are minor complaints though, when compared to how much pleasure we have found in the joy of

Not Being LOST.

We got to Portland. We made it to our hotel. We were so happy to have successfully gotten away that we didn't even go anywhere that first night. Our hotel had Evening Hors D'oeuvres and Drinks. It turned out to be a rather nice little dinner of Swedish Meatballs and gravy, mashed potatoes, and a smallish salad bar.

Friday morning we got showered and dressed and went down to breakfast. A lovely little spread that included a choice of fried or scrambled eggs, country potatoes and sausage links. As well as the more standard hotel breakfast of, mini muffins, doughnuts, cold cereal, bagels and bread to toast and fresh fruit.
It was nice to not have to go anywhere else for that morning meal.

The first order of business was IKEA.

I really like that store.

Don?

Not so much.
But he's a good sport.
Still, even I was shocked when we realized we had spent more than
three hours
exploring every square inch of,

Sweden's answer to good quality at reasonable prices.

Did I spend more than I had planned?

Do Cows Moo?

Of course I spent more than I had planned. But it was okay. We were on Holiday after all. Isn't that how you know for sure that you are relaxing and having a good time. To spend more money than you would ever do if you were home and not worry about it.

Don't worry. The mortgage will be paid on time. We weren't that irresponsible.

Sadly to say, we didn't get much else done that day.

I take the blame here.

I wanted to go eat somewhere new. Some place that we don't have here in the Tri Cities. Preferably, a nice local place. A brochure in our hotel had kindly notified us that Portland is after all,

One of the best cities in America to find a good place to eat.

So yeah, the pressure was kind of on.

You know?

I turned to the restaurant section of the phone book.

Oh My GOSH!

It must have been at least an inch thick. Lot's of wonderful places.

I guess.

Because that's the problem right there. How on earth am I supposed to know which of the 1500 (give or take) local eateries, going on just a listing in a phone book, I will like.

To me that is a big problem. I hate taking a chance and going to some randomly picked out colorful local diner, only to discover that their food is HORRIBLE.

Not just horrible but

Over Priced and with Bad Service thrown in just to put a little more salt in the wound.

I HATE that. (I guess this is a good time to point out that I can find a little comfort in the fact that at least there was no sales tax)

So needless to say we spent hours, (trust me, I do mean HOURS) wandering around trying to find a good spot to eat.

Did we? Well, let me put it this way. I have absolutely no memory of where or what we ate that night.

Really. I don't.

This mealtime fiasco did help us to realize that if we didn't want the rest of our get away to be like Friday that we better do some planning.

And this is how we decided to try something,

so radical,

so risky and different,

so unheard of in any of our previous weekend get aways,

that we would cross a line we never would have thought to cross and discover that once crossed, we would most likely never go back to our old ways again.

What did we do?

We tried. . . . . . . . . .

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!

Yes!
Good old Public Transportation.
Or to be more exact (in pure street talk) TriMet.

Let me just say that Portland Oregon must have one of the finest, one of the BEST, PT systems of anywhere in the country.

It is called TriMet. It includes Light Rail Trains (called Max) Street Cars and then those faithful old work horses otherwise know as Buses.

WooEEEE!

We had a blast. Our Hotel Shuttle took us to the Yellow Line Transit Center. From here we could go anywhere in the city we desired. I thought it quite likely that we would be lost in a matter of minutes.

We Weren't!

It was so easy to find the correct routes to wherever we wanted to go.

The people on every train or bus we were on were more than friendly and helpful. Never once did I feel unsafe. And I know that there were a few times when we ventured into what you could call "shady" parts of town. Both on foot as well as on the train. But we never felt that we were in any real danger at all.
For years and years Don has wanted to go to Downtown Portland to just wonder around and explore the city.

And BOY did we ever.

For two days we rode those trains to all kinds of places. Never once did we have to worry about one way streets. Or which freeway we were on, or where on earth we were going to park. No worry about if we would remember where we had parked the car.

The car was safely back at our hotel after all.

Oh this reminds me of what I have come to see as a symbol of just how great an experience we had.

On the second day as we jumped onto a Max Train on the Green line, a young man called after us. We looked back wondering what was the matter.

He was holding up a key ring.

He asked us if it was ours because he was pretty sure we were the ones that had dropped it.

OOOOOOPS!

We got the key from him and thanked him profusely. We would have been in a world of trouble without that key, you see. It's the only one we've got.

I can't say enough of what a great time we had. It's been probably 30 years since I've ventured out onto any kind of Public Transportation.

Don and I have decided that we will probably make a habit of it from now on when in Portland.
Not bad for a couple of Old People in their Fifties I'd say.
In fact we were having such a grand old time we decided to stay one more night and come home on Monday instead of Sunday.

Any longer than that and I would be worried for Shawn's sanity.

As it was, the second he heard my voice he came tearing down the stairs to give me a big BEAR HUG.

Have I mentioned before what a Mama's Boy he is?

So that is how I spent my weekend. It was a really good time and I already feel like planning our next get away.

I doubt I will too soon though.
I think I just might write a letter to Portland TriMet and let them know just how much we enjoyed their services.

What do you think?

Doreen can you please come butter my toast?

2011-01-18T06:31:00.000-08:00

This wasn't supposed to be published until Tuesday the 18th. I guess I need more lessons from Lisa on how to postdate a post. Oh well it's here now.

This is a rerun. I have my mom's funeral to attend today but I reread this a few nights ago and decided it would be a really nice tribute to my parents on the day that we lay my mother to rest. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

I was thinking about my father yesterday.

This May 20th will be his second birthday since he died.
I miss him.

Anyway, this last weekend while I was surrounded by family, we spent some time reminiscing about dad and some of his funny little quirks.

My father was an extremely intelligent man.

I know that a lot of people can say that about their dads, but for my father, whose measured IQ was comfortably in Genius territory, his intellect defined a large part of who he was.

Not in the way you would think though.

Dad was an engineer. He was an inventor. He was an innovator.
He had an exquisitley complex mind. And because of his mind he did things differently than most people.

He was a perfectionist.

Almost everything he did was slow and methodical. He had the infinite patience required to stick with an idea, to work it any number of ways and through countless trials and errors, to eventually come up with a mind blowing innovation.

In his early days, when I was young, he worked for Boeing.

He was happy there for a while but it was also the first of many experiences where he put in the hours and brainpower, only to see the credit for his work, taken by his superiors.

He did NOT have a mind for business.

He proved this with the times he decided to start his own companies, so as to be able to work for, and answer, only to himself.
He was too trusting and because of that he misjudged quite a few business "partners" who ended up cheating him out of his own intellectual property.

As smart as he was when it came to just plain understanding how everything in the world worked, and how to manipulate it to his will, he could be pretty clueless when it came to everyday life.

He could not escape his methodical, engineering mind. And for simple, day to day, chores and tasks, he wouldn't even try. It took him forever to do anything.
Household jobs were out of the question.

Don't think he wasn't willing.

He was more than happy to save my mom from the drudgeries of housework. The thing is, mom liked things done as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

In theory dad agreed with that. But in practice he couldn't hurry to save his life.
If he did the dishes, it would take him forever because he would break the task down into the cleaning of each individual dish.

Each cup, saucer, plate or bowl would be thoroughly gone over in such a way as to make sure it was not only clean, but as good as new. If anything happened to be found in want of even the tiniest of repairs, dishwashing would come to an abrupt halt so as to come up with the best solution for restoration.
If vacuuming carpets, dad would be so methodical that he could spend ten minutes on one square yard making sure that it was completely free of dirt, dust, loose threads, or, heaven forbid, crumbs, before moving on to the next three feet.

Needless to say, my father was very seldom pressed into simple housework.

To his credit though, he could fix anything.Our appliances lasted longer than most people's.

Eating was much the same way with my dad. He took his time. He would be at the table longer than anyone.
And no one was better at getting all of the leftover meat off of a turkey carcass.
As long as you didn't mind waiting an hour or two.

This brings me to one of the most famous "dad" traditions, our family has ever had.

Dad loved toast.

There were quite a few other foods as well that he enjoyed, but toast was probably the most iconic.
I wasn't there for the first days of my parent's marriage, having come along in approximately year number two.

But dad and his toast have become so legendary in our family that it feels like I must have been there from the very beginning.
Because from the time I was old enough to notice such things, my father always asked my mom to please come and butter his toast. I must have been at least five or six before it even occurred to me to ask why. Why on earth didn't my dad ever butter his own toast?

It turns out that there was a very good answer.

When my parents were first married, my dad was a student at the University of Washington. He was a devout Husky thereafter, his entire life.
As you know, one thing a college student is usually short on, is time.

And every morning for breakfast my dad liked to have a couple slices of toast.
The problem was, that buttering his toast, was something that took so long, that he could have eaten ten pieces of the stuff in the time it took him to butter just one piece.
Each quadrant of toast was gone over with a small pattering of butter so as to make sure that there was an equal amount spread from top to bottom.

This.

Took.

Forever!

And it is a fact that very few college professors will accept, toast buttering, as an acceptable excuse for being late to class.
So it became apparent, quite early in my parents' marriage, that if dad was to continue his education it would be vital for my mom to be the toast butterer of the family.
This is generally the accepted reason in my family why from the first years of their life together, through to the very last days of my fathers' life, that if toast was to be eaten, it would always be buttered by my mom.

Like most of these kinds of things, who would butter my fathers' toast became a rite of much greater importance than just a couple of pieces of buttered toast.

Years and years of buttered toast turned into a ritual of love.

I like to think that it became woven into a part of the security blanket of my parents relationship. It had started out as one of those mundane things that my mom did more out of necessity than love.

But as year after year passed, it became a symbol of my parents' interdependence on each other.

Other rituals eventually ended up joining the marriage, just as there were always certain little sore spots that they learned how to walk around.

After all isn't that how a good marriage works?

Two people, no matter how much they love each other, don't just automatically fall into perfect step with each other.

And for my parents, I think it was a slow love.

One that over years of shared history, of many bumps in the road and more than a few joys, grew into something so personal, so unique, so permanent that there was no force on earth that could have broken them apart.

If it all got started with a little toast buttering, then I guess it just goes to show that mighty things really do come from, what some might consider, the small and almost insignificant.

My mom mourns my dads' passing. I'm sure she feels stripped of a part of herself.
Couples who love and endure through so much come out so firmly entwined that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

I know my mother feels this.

I also know that for over more than fifty years of marriage there were times when she probably felt like telling dad to "butter his own toast".
She would never have meant it of course.
And I like to think that for my father, there would be no joy found in the eating of a piece of toast that had been buttered by his own hand.

Now call it what you will, but for me, the thought of my mom standing there in the kitchen quickly buttering my dads toast, will always be one of the great symbols of love.

Addendum; Now that my mom has died and gone to join my father, I can only guess at how things will be for them in heaven. I doubt that there will be any more toast to be buttered, or dishes to be washed or dinners to be late for.

These were all earthly concerns after all.

I would like to think though, that before too long they will find comfortable new routines and ways to cement the partnership that they had worked on for more than fifty years.
They will no longer have to deal with the earthly constraints of ill health, unrelieved pain, more doctor visits than can easily be kept track of and yes, too many bills and not always enough money.

I imagine that they will be young and beautiful again.

Just as they were all those years ago when they first started on their journey through life together.
They had no idea at such a young time in their lives what life would hold for them. I’m sure that very little turned out as they must have pictured it so long ago when it was just the two of them.
But then that is the beauty of this life.
And I’m happy and proud that they stuck with it through to the end.

Goodbye mom and dad.

Two different kinds of winners

2011-01-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

My mom died last night. I'm not sad as much as happy for her.
My father died three and a half years ago and she never managed to learn to enjoy life without him. They had become so completely welded together that I don't think either of them knew where one ended and the other began.

My father was as devoted a husband as I have ever seen, and I hope that now my mom will be able to forgive him for "going first".

I will miss my mom.

I feel that she played the "Game of Life" to the best of her abilities and at the end she Won.

Goodbye Mom, try not to be too hard on Dad if he's a little late meeting you due to some heavenly invention he's working on.

And on a completely different note. . . . .

I have a winner to my little "Leave me a comment Win a 20$ Target Gift card" contest/giveaway.

My sweet friend Jeanette Mortensen!

Congrats Jeanette. I was really excited that she turned up the winner.

Her husband has been a casualty of the bad economy and I know she's been struggling with the same problems my daughter and her husband Jeff have been dealing with for the last couple of years. So I couldn't be happier that she ended up the winner.
Jeanette, go out and get something nice just for you!

Well, to everyone else, this was fun and I don't think I'll wait for my 300th post to have another giveaway.

Glorious Beautiful Day

2011-01-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

I think I speak for most of my fellow Americans when I say that I am so damn sick of Winter and nasty

COLD, WET, WINDY, SNOWY, ICY, STORMY, and just plain awful miserable weather.

I realize there are those who might take exception with my including snow in with the rest of those atmospheric hooligans, but it's my blog and I (with very few exceptions)
HATE snow.

So imagine my delight yesterday upon awakening to freshly fallen snow (no, this isn't the part that made me happy) And turning my TV to the local NBC station to have myself a quick little check of the "daily and weekly weather at a glance."

There was the day's local Weather Person, (I can't even tell you if it was a man or woman they switch those weather people every other week it seems) Showing the next several day's forecast and right there under Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, (you get the idea) were these beautiful numbers.

45 47 46 48 49

Do you see why I was so happy?!?!

Of course, I didn't let myself get too excited. The day last week, when all of the various business's courtesy, electronic, display boards were showing temperatures between 40 to 46 degrees it was so windy and nasty that I'm sure in reality it was far closer to the previous week's horrible 20 degrees and below.

So yes, I did start out today with a healthy dose of trepidation.

But then I took my granddaughter Abbey to school at 7:32. As the garage door opened and I braced myself for the cold wind I was sure would be whipping in as the door slowly raised, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was barely even nippy.

I came home.

I watched a little bit of the Today Show.

I was really late getting my shower due to some personal, family type, business that needed dealing with.

I turned the little space heater in my bedroom on and then not even three minutes later turned it right back off because I was getting too HOT!

Oh blessed day. Could it be? Were the good people of the Tri-Cities (Washington) really going to be treated to a beautiful, dare I say, Springlike day in not even quite the middle of January?

The answer turned out to be a resounding

YES!

YES!!!

YES!!!!

What to wear, what to wear???

I don't know about other parts of this great country of ours but it seems like the times here in good old Eastern Washington when you can wear whatever you want and don't have to worry about being either too hot or too cold, well to me at least,

those types of days seem pretty darn rare.

I love clothes. I have a lot of clothes. Sadly, I have quite a few clothes that I like to think of as my Medium clothes.

You know, like long to mid-length sleeved T-shirt type tops that are not warm enough for really cold days but too dang warm for nice and warm days.

And then my jackets.

I LOVE jackets. I have lots and lots of really super cute jackets. When I was buying every cute jacket I could get my hands on it kind of slipped my mind just how often I would actually be able to wear them.

Because really, in reality, (trust me on this) I have done the math. And counting the few weeks of true Autumn weather we have, you know those days where the temperature hovers between oh, say, maybe 48 to 75 or so, (with a minimum of wind of course) and then the little bit of REAL Spring we get with roughly those same parameters.

Let's just say that here in my neck of the woods. We don't have nearly enough Medium Weather Days.

So, to make what has turned out to be a pretty long story, short.

Today was absolutely FABULOUS!!!

In fact as far as previous January thirteenths here in Kennewick goes, I would have to give today,

Two Big Fat THUMBS UP!!!

I give it an 8!!

Yes I know. I almost went with the more predictable 10, but I do want to give the weather a little bit of an incentive after all.

And I think it just might rise up to the challenge.

Tomorrow has been slated to be as fine as today.

Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope!!!!!

And if, by some poor chance of unforeseen boondoggery, tomorrow turns out to be a sad follow up to today's glorious example. . . .

Oh well. I can take it. I'll simply have to remember anew (with a minimum of hard feelings) just how great today was.

So tell me,

How's the Weather outside YOUR door?

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-12T07:44:00.000-08:00

Someone chose the right number!

I'm a little surprised it was this quick, when David had his contest and it was like 1 to 65 it took a long time for the right number to be chosen.

On the other hand, I'm a little surprised that it wasn't chosen sooner.
When I reveal the number you might see what I mean.
Yesterday Jenn Grover was just one number off.

So what was my magic number?

Should

I

make

you

wait

until

after

the

commercial

like

they

do

on

just

about

every

TV show

for

the

answer?

No. of course not. I'm not that full of myself.

The number is 111.

Kind of appropriate don't you think.

And the person that picked 111, is. . . .

Stephanie Willis!!!!

Congratulations Stephanie!!! I know that at one time I had your address but please e-mail it to me anyway because I'm not very good at holding onto things in an organized manner.

Stephanie is also still in the running for the 20$ Target gift card that will be chosen on Friday. So Stephanie, I'll wait until after that to mail your gift card to you. Ya know, just in case lightening strikes twice and I have two cards to send you.

This has been a lot of fun.

I might just do it again in a couple of months. Until then thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate all of my friendly, fellow bloggers!

Movie Day: A Shawn Post

2011-01-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

I mentioned that I may run a few of my favorite older posts. I hope you don't mind, I really enjoy revisiting some of my good times. And this one about Shawn always makes me smile. I can't believe it's from Sept of 09.

My how time flies.

Go ahead and leave your 6 numbers for my 1 to 150 contest. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about then scroll down to my previous posts.
Good luck and happy number guessing to all!

P.S.I have no idea how to get rid of the original comments, but then I guess that's not too big a deal. Go ahead and leave your number guesses, and any comments below the original ones.

I would like to inform everyone, that yesterday, the Sorensons did their part to keep the film industry alive and healthy.

Since Shawn has a problem with boredom on the days when there are no ARC activities, I try to take him to the movies at least twice a month. Sometimes even once a week.

Shawn loves movies.

In a big way TV and Movies are a bit like a playmate for him.

Let me explain.

Shawn has never just sat in front of a TV with a blank stare on his face. He follows the "full action and vocal" method of TV (and when possible Movie) viewing.

Shawn thinks that Movies and TV were meant to be an interactive experience.

He talks along with the dialogue. He punches when punches are thrown. He shoots when they shoot. And quite often is so overcome with excitement that all he can do is rub his hands together and laugh.

My other kids have always found it a little hard to enjoy TV and Movie viewing with Shawn.

Because of this Shawn has learned that he can be quiet (quiet by Shawn standards that is) through even the funniest or most action packed scene.

He can do it, but he sure would rather not have to.

Okay, this is where this gets really good.

Shawn and I have planned for at least two months to go see, "G-Force".
There were a few films that we had to see first.

Time out;

One of them "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" scared the juice out of Shawn. Just a little info in case you're wondering if you should take your younger children to see it.

Time in;

So, like I said, there were other movies that we wanted to see, causing G-Force, to get pushed to the back of the line. It was no big deal, I like to take Shawn to films after they have been out a while.

And always to the Matinee.

That way we can almost always watch our movie in an almost empty theater.

Well, without thinking, I must have somehow made an offering to the Theater Gods, because the room for G-Force in 2-D was completely EMPTY!

I was so pleased.

Let me explain the appeal of an empty theater. (Even though it's probably obvious.)

In an empty theater, where Shawn and I are the only people there, I don't have to tell him to remember to not make too much noise.

I'm always a little sad to have to censor him, but it's not fair to the rest of the audience if Shawn is allowed to watch a movie his way.

That is why yesterday's movie was so wonderful.

Shawn didn't even wait for the previews, he started talking along with the commercials. He didn't really seem to be watching for me to shush him but I know that he was.

Commercials:

Talk,
ask mom a question, (Shawn's questions are almost always rhetorical)
laugh a bit,
one more (rhetorical) question.

Previews:
Talk,
laugh,
question,
two more questions,
talk,
more talking,
laugh,
laugh,
laugh.
with lots of happy hand rubbing.

Hmm, mom hasn't said one thing so far.

Talking gets just a little more loud and animated.

Hmm, still nothing from mom but a smile.
This can only mean one thing.

I am going to have one heck of a good time!

And, boy did he ever.

You would have thought it was the second or third time he had seen G-Force.
He followed every line.
He jumped, he punched, he laughed and laughed.
I know for a fact that in Shawn's mind he was an integral part of that movie.
Out of habit, there were a few times when I had to catch myself, from telling him to be quiet.

I was good.

I didn't shush him even once. It wasn't really that hard anyway. Over the years I've pretty much learned to tune it out.

I think that yesterday's screening of G-Force, was one of the best times he has had at the movies in years.

Oh, and a quick little review;
It was absolutely wonderful.
Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney at their best!
I highly recommend it to all ages, it was so darn cute.

Part 2:

Fresh off my "Shawn-Movie" high, I come home and find Kelly up at the computer.
He wanted to know if I would like to go with him that evening to see,
Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds".

His treat.

Of course I said yes.
I have been really wanting to see it. My older sons, Donald and Kelly, had both seen it and told me how much they loved it.

I was interested from the first commercial for it.

We went to the 7:00 showing.
I splurged and got popcorn.
Extra Butter.

My opinion?

I LOVED IT!!!!!

It was one of the best films I've ever seen. If it doesn't win a best picture Oscar for Tarantino, it will be a crime.
I highly, HIGHLY, recommend it to everybody.

Well everyone except for my DIL Lisa.
She wouldn't have enjoyed it. She's a little squeamish about things like, scalping Nazi soldiers, or blowing some guys family jewels to Kingdom Come.
But for anyone who wouldn't mind watching those evil Nazis get what they have coming to them, all I can say is GO!

I can't remember the last time I saw two movies in one day. Especially two, such different types of films.

It was a good day for me. A super good day for Shawn. And a very satisfying day for Kelly.

We went, we saw, we smiled.

And everyone went home happy!

How to build a better give-a-way

2011-01-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Not to worry, not to worry. I'm not going to change anything in a bad way at all.
I realized that I might be setting myself and my friends up for a loooong drawn out contest having to guess a number between 1 and 400.
So I am going to loosen things up a little.

Since nobody guessed correctly today I'm going to throw out the 1 to 400 for a smaller 1 to 150.
And, I will let everyone guess 6 numbers a day, instead of 3.
Aaaaaannd, for those loyal buddies who have so valiantly turned in their numbers for the day, only to have that rug pulled out from under them, Libbie, Misty, Lisa C, Stephanie, Charlene, Mike and Emily you will have 6 extra guesses to use at any time during my little 1 to 150, 40$ Target giftcard contest.
Use them now or wait until more numbers have been chosen it's up to you.

Hopefully I will have a winner before the month is out. Hopefully if not, you will stick with me and comment your 6 guesses every day until my carefully chosen number is guessed.
And for everyone else, if you haven't commented yet on my previous post to be in the running for a 20$ Target gift card please go and do it now.

Okay, I think I will let well enough alone and go check out my new book
"Water For Elephants" that arrived today from Barnes and Noble.

Oh why not

2011-01-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

This seems a little anti-climatic. Here I am with my second post after coming back to my blog.
The fact that it is also my 200th post may sound a little strange.

Obviously planning ahead isn't always one of my strong suits.

If I had, I could have done just two more posts last June and finished on a real high note with 200 posts under my blogging belt.

Of course I would have closed out with a nice, exciting, big fat. . . .

. . . . . . . Give-A-Way. . . . . .

Oh, why not?

Announcing my 200th Post. . . .

Glad to be back. . . . . .

Thrilled that some of you even mentioned on Lisa's blog that they missed me. . . (thank you for that by the way it made me feel all warm inside)

A 20.00 Target Gift Card Give-A-Way!!!!!!!

Hooray! Cue the applause!!!!

Okay. Rules.

We must have rules. (even though I myself am not much of a rule lover and never have been)

I'll keep it simple. Leave me a comment. That's it. Just one little comment. On Friday January 14th sometime around 7 in the Evening I will pick the winner and announce said winner no later than Sunday at 7PM.

If you are the winner and I don't have your address I'll have you send it to my e-mail.

You know what, I just remembered that it's usually customary to give everyone a chance for more than one entry. Hmmm, how's this, you can also leave me a comment on my facebook page.

That sounds fair.

So, to clarify, leave me a comment here on my blog and then for a second entry leave me a comment on my facebook page. If you aren't on my friend list send me a friend request.

I think this will be fun.

In fact, I think it would be even more fun if I tweaked things just a little.

How about this. . . .

Two contests at the same time.

Give-a-way number two, will require a little more involvement. Not a lot, but more than just leaving a comment.

Here goes.

I have chosen a number between 1 and 400.

Guess it!

You have three guesses a day. I don't have a clue how long this will take. The contest will continue until the correct number is chosen.
The winner of this giveaway will win. . . .

Drum roll please. . . .

A 40 dollar Target Gift Card!

So, to summarize. Leave a comment here and one on Facebook. A winner will be randomly chosen this Friday and announced no later than Sunday Evening for the 20.00 Target gift card.

For my other giveaway, guess a number between 1 and 400. Whoever guesses the correct number will win. You have three guesses per day until the correct number is chosen.

I'm not sure how much work this will make for me. I know that when Lisa's brother David did a contest like this it took quite a while for a winner to show up. I will continue to write new posts during this time and you can leave your guesses in the comment section. I might include a few of my favorite older posts as well.

Well Good Luck. I'm excited to see how long it will take for someone to pick the correct number.

Let the contest BEGIN!

Has it really been that long

2011-01-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

I'm back.

I think.

I'm not going to make any grand claims. Claims that I may later regret and start to resent myself for letting my mouth write checks that my brain (and fingers) don't want to cash.
But for now, let's just say for the sake of argument, that I am going to try jumping back into the Blogosphere that I used to enjoy so much.

Some of my friends may have noticed as of late that I have ventured on to FaceBook.

I didn't really do it to be more social.

It was more a matter of not having access to so many different sources of information. Everything these days, from the latest movies to toilet paper comparisons seems to have picked up stakes and moved over to FaceBook.

And the troubling thing about that is that if you aren't a part of Facebook you will be DENIED!

I hate being denied.

Plus, I knew that getting myself a Facebook account would make my kids (especially my oldest Donald) deliriously happy.

And boy did it ever.

So now I am a part of the ever growing and undeniably popular Facebook Crowd.
I don't know if I can handle so much coolness in one short lifetime.

In fact to make my leaping into the 21st Century even more inclusive, I would like to announce that after months of agonizing, debating and mental back and forthing, in early December I went into Target and bought myself a nice new 160 GB iPod. Classic.

None of that newfangled iPod touch for me.

I figured that with 160 GBs I would have plenty of room.

I didn't want to run out of room.

The fact that I have very little idea of how to actually set up and use the silly thing is hardly important.

So far I have had help from my sweet nephew Mitch, and my sons Kelly and Donald.
I think that I should have just stuck with Mitch.
Currently my iPod is a bit of a mismatched mess. With lots of songs on there more than once.
For example, if you push the Michael Buble button it shows something like 86 songs.

Wow. Michael Buble is certainly prolific, was my first thought.

As it turns out, there are actually maybe 12 songs all together. I guess Donald and Lisa just have several different albums of his loaded on their computer with a LOT of overlap.

Oh well. I'm not one to complain.

And I have high hopes that one day my iPod will actually be a nicely organized easy to use music source.

One day.

Probably after Mitch gets his license.

So that's it for me. For now. I don't know how many of my old blog buddies are still out there reading blogs these days. Even my DIL Lisa's audience seems to have shrunk a bit.
If you enjoy this,
new,
slightly tentative,
little post of mine,
please don't be shy.
Leave me a nice comment.

If I get enough interest I might even have a little give-away.
After all I think this is either post number 198 or 199. And I had kinda figured it would be great fun to do something special for my 200th post.

Until then, maybe I'll see you (figuratively speaking of course) on Facebook.

P.S. My iPod Classic even came with a 25$ Target gift card.

p.s.s.oooooh a 25$ Target gift card, could that be some subtle foreshadowing

Fresh New Dresses for SALE!!!!

2010-06-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've been a little busy lately.

Obviously.

Anyway, my once, mostly abandoned etsy store is up and running once again. I did my homework and figured out what is selling. I hope I got it right.

I think I got it right.

If you want a beautiful, original and reasonably priced dress for your favorite little girl, then look no further than my humble little etsy shop.

TwiddleSticks.

I have a few more dresses (in smaller sizes, I'm trying to figure out what to do about Lex and Lori being too big to model them)

In the meantime, check out what is currently for sale as of
June 12th in my etsy shop!!!!!

Hop on over to Twiddlesticks!

See you there!

By Popular Demand (David and Lisa's) A New Post

2010-06-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

David and Lisa have asked for a new post.
Hmm. I don't really know why but I just haven't been feeling the "blog thing" lately.

I think it's effecting not just me either.

I've noticed that several of my favorite blogs haven't been updated very often.

If at all.

I'm going on two years now and just a few to go til I hit 200 posts.

I wonder,

is there a shelf life for most blogs?

Is it normal to start out strong,
meet lots of new friends,
make a lot of them happy,
piss a few of them off,
slowly start to slow it down,
until,
you find you are doing good,
to post,
maybe,
once a week,
gradually,
finding that,
even,
once a month

becomes

a

hassle?

Or is it just me?

To add a bit more substance to this post I think i will fall back on an "oldie" but a "goodie"

Things that make me smile:

I don't know about you, but there is just something about a brand new box of Crayola 64 crayons that, after more than fifty years, still brings me deep feelings of satisfaction.
I love the smell of those, brand new, never been touched by anyone, dare I say "Virgin" crayolas. I love to meet up with my old favorites, Sky Blue and Magenta.
I think if I had to condense the warm feeling they give me, down to just one word, it would have to be,

Possibilities

Yes. I think that would have to be it.

If allowed to further expound on my love of that fresh new box of 64, I think I would include;

Comfort

Nostalgia

Excitement

Creative Juices

Contentment

Wow. So much pleasure to be gained from something that, if purchased at the right time of year (i.e. back to school) can be gotten for less than three dollars, three fifty max.

One more thing that always brings me to huge smiles;

People with Downs Syndrome.

My friend Jenny, recently, commented that they are

"Little Balls of JOY".

I LOVED that.

I have yet to meet a person with Downs that I haven't immediately fallen in love with.

Shawn is friends with quite a few of them at the ARC. One of my very favorite guys would have to be Fred. He has gray hair, so I assume he's a little older.
He is one of the most dignified people I have ever met. He is kind of quiet.

A guy who likes to take his time.

He's never loud or flashy. He may not be the first person you will notice in the room. But every time I meet him I am impressed by how calm and mellow he is. I feel like he is one of those rare, lucky people, who is simply comfortable in his own skin.

One thing for sure. Fred brings a huge smile to my heart.

I think I will save further "makes me smile" items for another time.

See how optimistic I am to assume that there will be a "Next Time"?

P.S. This Sunday, June 6th, is my birthday. I plan to celebrate turning 53 by going to my grandaughter Lorelai's second Piano Recital.
I can assure you that this is something that will most definitely

PUT A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE!

Answers for Sarah

2010-05-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

If you read my daughter-in-law Lisa's blog then you know that our dear little Elisabeth has had surgery this week to have a feeding tube inserted.
Someone left a rather disturbing comment on one of her posts. The commenter, Sarah's, remarks are in red and Lisa's are in green. (her favorite color)

I have only recently began reading your blog, and am very very curious if you knew about Elizabeths condition prior to being born? If so, how early on did you know?

Hi Sarah,Yes, I knew that Elisabeth had hydrocephalus and that it would most likely lead to many other disabilities....I just didn't know what those would be until after she was born.She was diagnosed with hydrocephalus when I was 16 weeks pregnant.Thanks for reading my blog :)

Was terminating the pregnancy ever considered? The suffering Elizabeth must be going through hardly seems fair. In any case, I wish you the best, and hope that Elizabeth will have some semblance of a normal life if/when she gets older.

Here is the beautiful post Lisa published in answer to Sarah's concerns.

In regards to your comment(s) on my 'Out of Surgery' post: No, I never ever, not even for one second, considered terminating the pregnancy. And while you think that her suffering is 'not fair', I would say that it is a far better option than death. Yes, she has felt pain. Yes, she is limited both physically and mentally. But, she has felt the wind on her face and she has heard the sound of birds chirping; she has laughed and she has played; she has been the recipient of many kind acts of service and love; she has a family that completely adores her. Aren't these all things worth living for?As far as you hoping that she can someday have a 'normal life', I would like to say that she is living a very charmed little life right now. She is showered with love and does not know of evil or hatred or fear. Yes, she has her own little trials, but don't we all? Anyways, it's not about the trials we face, but how we face them. And Elisabeth, she faces them with courage and strength.
I am honored to be her mother.

I started to leave this as a comment but just like my last post decided to do it as a post instead.
Just so you know, I'm not angry at Sarah for asking and insinuating what she did.

Neither is Lisa.

We realize that there are many people in this world that feel the way Sarah does about these kinds of things.

How sad.

A while ago I read a statistic that 90 % of Down Syndrome babies are aborted. I have no idea what the abortion rate for children like Elisabeth is, but I'm sure it must be high.

As I already stated, I'm not angry at Sarah. I don't hate her. I just feel sad that she has such a tainted, pessimistic, bleak and hollow view of the world.

I really doubt that she will even find her way over here to my blog but just in case, here is my answer to her.

Dear Sarah, if you are still reading I would like to shed a little more light for you.

Elisabeth isn't the first child in our family to be born "imperfect".

I am Lisa's Mother-in-law and Elisabeth's adoring grandma. We are a doubly blessed family because my youngest son, Shawn, 23 years old is mentally retarded as well as autistic.

And he is one of my greatest JOYS in life.

He is quite high functioning but he will always need looking after. He participates in several ARC activities as well as attending many church activities with the young adult group of our church.

Shawn lives about as perfect a life as anyone ever could.

All of my children have learned to have a true love of disabled people because of their brother Shawn.
I know for a fact that Lisa and Donald would have loved and accepted Elisabeth no matter what, but I can't help but think that their experiences with Shawn have helped them to understand just how perfect an "imperfect" life can be.

The following, is one of my favorite little Elisabeth stories.

From the day we first realized that Elisabeth had severe vision problems, I was determined to make sure that she knew her grandma. I would get right down next to her when she was on a blanket on the floor, I would take her dimpled little hand and put it on my face and in her perfect sweet little ear I would say "Elisabeth, it's Grandma!"

Every single time this is how I would greet this dear little grandaughter.

For months I never really got a response. I didn't get discouraged though. I just kept on trying.

Finally, one day, (I think Elisabeth must have been around seven months or so), I got down and did my usual, "Hi Elisabeth. It's GRANDMA!"

Not really expecting a response.

All of a sudden, I look at her and she is SMILING! Just grinning from ear to ear. As well as bouncing, kicking and reaching.

Reaching for ME that would be.

That was an exciting moment for me. The very first time that I knew that Elisabeth knew who her grandma was.

Some of little E's happiest times are when we are all gathered together as a family and she can sit back and hear all of the voices of the people she loves best.

Lisa, didn't mention this but I will.

My daughter Heidi (Lisa and the girls stayed with her this last week in Spokane) told me the other day of how excited Elisabeth got when her two big sisters were allowed to finally see her in the hospital.

The minute Elisabeth heard her sister's voices she just went wild with happiness. She grabbed them and hugged and kissed them, and smiled for miles.

Sarah, I don't know what your definition of a happy, normal, worthwhile life would be.

But as far as this grandma is concerned,

My grandaughter Elisabeth has one of the best, the happiest, the most cherished, loved and adored, the most worthwhile, lives of anyone I know.

And as far as normal goes,

Could someone please explain to me just what a normal life is.

Strength

2010-05-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

I started to leave this as a comment on my friend Libbie's blog but realized that I should use it as a post for my blog instead.

You know how long winded I can be.

You can go here to read Libbie's post which, funny as these things sometimes are, was inspired by a post of one of her friends.

I guess you could think of this as one of those really nice Circle-Of-Life things.

This beautifully written post really resonated with me today. Not just the words, as uplifting as they are, but for me the timing as well.

I just got home from a trip to get some blood drawn and then a bit of shopping to make it all better, and, while driving home, I started thinking how every single person I had contact with today was a woman.
I felt good that I had been sure to be as kind and grateful as possible to each of them,
especially the one who had to poke me twice because she couldn't get blood on her first try.

Anyway, I started thinking about how much strength there is in womanhood, but also how for some weird reason, women also seem to be hardwired to distrust and be overly judgemental of each other.

How sad that is.

Most often, during the first twenty years or so of a woman's life, the public schooling years to be even more specific, if a girl is being bullied, belittled, shamed, or in any other way mistreated by her peers, it is almost always at the hand of other girls.

Why is it that, so often, instead of being loyal, helpful and supportive of each other, our first instinct upon coming into contact with a woman we don't know is to size her up.

Is she more attractive than me? Deduct ten points.
Better dressed? Lop off another fifteen.
Better educated? Better hair? Nicer shoes? More at ease?

Left unchecked, these primal feelings can turn into feelings of mistrust and dislike before the "competition" has even uttered a complete greeting.

Why do we do this to each other?

I find myself seething with anger when I think of all the injustice that has been rained down on women since almost the beginning of time.

But I sometimes wonder, is it possible that our courser instinct to distrust and have contempt for each other, could be, even a miniscule factor, in the way that women have historically been treated as inferior to men.

There is strength in numbers after all.

When women band together, when we learn to accept and appreciate each other for not only those traits we have in common but for the differences we have as unique individuals.

Good things happen.

I think of my daughters, I include my beloved daughter-in-law in the tally. I think of my mother and grandmothers. My sisters and two cherished sister-in-laws.

My aunts and cousins.

And then I move on to my friends.

Those that I know well, as well as those I assume, some might think of as mere acquaintances.

To me they will be counted as friends.

The women that I have gotten to know that work at some of my favorite shopping spots.

Shelly, Caroline, Ruthie, at JoAnns.

Dandi, who never groans or rolls her eyes when I bring, yet another thing with the tag missing, back to Shopko.

Sue at Target, who every time I'm in her line, asks about my daughter Courtney, who hasn't worked there for over a year, but Sue still asks after her and I know for a fact that her inquiries are genuine and sincere.

The women, who's names I can't remember, who do remember me, at the Fred Meyer Pharmacy.

Yolanda, today at Penny's who was so helpful and pleasant.
Don't worry,
I WILL do the survey,
I WILL mark Highly Satisfied for each question and I
WILL write in your name!

So many women in my life.

Sisters.

All of them sisters.

Even the few women that for whatever reason I may not particularly like.

After all, we can't love everyone. (Just being honest here.)

But I do know that if it ever came down to a matter of life and death, if it was within my power to make the world right, even for one of those sisters that I don't really like.

I hope that I could come through for them. Could I? Would I?

Should I?

The answer is obvious.

Yes. I should. We are sisters.

We can either be our own worst enemies or each other's greatest strength. I will try to always remember this. No matter the situation. Carry on Sister, and don't worry.

We'll always have your back!

Exciting news about Kelly

2010-05-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

I got a call from CBC, the local community college that my son Kelly attends, late yesterday morning.
I was told that a poem he had submitted to their yearly writers contest won first prize.

I didn't even know that he had entered.

I was so excited for him. He was actually at school at the time and I never call his phone if I know that he's in class so I had to wait for him to get home to give him the good news. I wasn't totally clear on just what he had won. I thought that Gwen, the woman who had called me with the news might have said he won the top prize of the whole competition.
We found out this morning that it was first prize in the poetry division not the grand prize over all.

I don't mind though. I'm just so thrilled and pleased and proud and all of those other emotions that you would expect me to be feeling.

The awards ceremony is tomorrow night.

They want Kelly to read his poem to the audience.

If you would like to read it for yourself, here is a link to his post that he just did telling all about it.

Now, I only have one thing to worry about.

What to wear?

Kelly's Big Funny

2010-04-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned that my middle son Kelly is a student at the local Community College, (where he is doing phenomenally well, btw) as well as a dish-washer at Red Lion.

I wouldn't say that he loves his job, but he does appreciate the fact that he doesn't have to deal with the public, other than the dirty dishes they leave behind.

For the most part he really likes the people he works with and has even found myriad ways of adding as much fun to the job of Dishwasher, as he possibly can.

They have had Dish-Stacking Competitions, believe me, NOT for the feint of heart, as well as the more mundane, but still time-passingly-funny, ridiculing of the Banquet Employees. (Apparently even lower on the Eatery Food Chain than Dishwashers).

Well, last night Kelly came home from work and asked me to come out to the kitchen so that he could show me something.

A new benchmark in FUNNY has been set for the denizens of the bowels-of-the-kitchens-at-Red-Lion. (in Kennewick)

I won't take away any of Kelly's glory by explaining it to you just go here and have yourself a good laugh on me.

Shawn's Yogurt Strategy

2010-04-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, let me start this off with a quick bit of Long-Story-Short.

Shawn loves to go out.

As in, leave the premises (a.e. home) to go to the store (preferably Walmart, but Target and Fred Meyer are also highly prized)

I understand this little quirk of his pretty well, I get a little stir crazy if confined within the four walls myself, for too long. The problem (for Shawn, not for me) though is that I have also learned to appreciate the quiet, peace and relaxation, and coziness of a day spent entirely at home.

I've been trying to do this more and more lately.

Much to Mr. Shawn's distress, I should add.

Shawn has never been an apt student to the art of subtlety. Not that he doesn't try of course.
He also seems to have a pretty uncanny sense of those days when mom has decided to hunker down and not leave the house for any reason less than, oh, say, maybe, fire?

I know that he knows because, inevitably, he will start hovering around wherever I have stationed myself and he will start dropping his little hints.

Usually, he will start off by pointing out to me which day of the week it is.

Shawn: "Uh, mom, today is Tuesday."

Me: "Yes Shawn, you're right. Today sure is Tuesday."

In all fairness, I should explain that stating which day of the week it is, is a daily occurrence, and, in itself, not necessarily a key factor in one of his "I've got to get out of this house NOW" schemes. But it is also true that it is generally a pretty good starting point for him.

Now, if keeping me apprised of the day of the week is done in all innocence, it will usually be kept at that.

Shawn can go on his merry way, knowing that his job as the family up-to-dater is secure for yet another day.

But,

If this is simply the first salvo in his "must go to Walmart" plan, it will quickly be followed by the announcement of some household item that we are woefully falling short of.

Shawn: " Um, mom. Did you know that we are almost out of Zip Lock Quart Sized Storage bags?"

Me: "No we aren't, I bought a new box of them last week. I just put them away so that you wouldn't open them up before the box we are using is used up."

Poor Shawn.

I know how much these little "blocks" of mine frustrate him. I don't worry though.
He'll be back for round two in no time and usually with a far better researched "almost-out-of need" or two in his little arsenal.

Sometimes, he will hit gold, and discover something that we are not only "low" on, but completely OUT of.

I can only imagine his genuine glee upon discovering that there is not another piece of Smoked Ham to be found anywhere in the entire fridge.

Oh yes.

It's not everyday that he can come to me, to plead his case, with such a fully loaded quiver, as being completely out of a bare necessity like Ham.

Or,

milk,

eggs,

birthday candles,

bagels,

cream cheese,

or,

to be more specific,
such as what happened yesterday,

YOGURT!

Yes, even I have to admit, that running out of yogurt could have a devastating effect on the Sorenson household. Don eats yogurt, Kelly eats yogurt, I don't usually, but from time to time I will even imbibe.

And then there is Shawn.

Shawn loves yogurt. He has been known to eat up to three, little six ounce cups, of yogurtey goodness in a day. (Don't even get me started on how it used to be eight ounces) Yogurt is one of those handy little foods that can be eaten no matter what time of the day it is. It has become one of Shawn's favorite, go-to-foods for those annoying little between-meal-times when a little something is needed to "tide one over".

Side note; Shawn so likes the idea of "Tiding me Over" that sometimes I have to point out to him that, that Subway Meatball Sub, I just bought him at 6PM is not meant to "Tide him over", until dinner, but is indeed

DINNER.

Back to yesterday.

So, I am forced to admit that, yes, we do seem to be utterly and completely out of that, life sustaining substance, known as Yogurt. As a matter of fact it has been almost three days with no discernible traces of yogurt anywhere in the house.

Crap.

I did not want to go anywhere at all yesterday. I knew we were almost out of milk, I knew we were completely out of eggs, in fact I guess this is even kind of proof of the powerful force a yogurt shortage carries around here, because now that I think of it Shawn never once mentioned the lack of eggs or milk. Not once. It was strictly the lack of yogurt that he carried his entire case on.

The thought does occur of course that he may have strategically been saving those shortages to pry me out of the house today.

If so, then VICTORY is mine because I got plenty of milk as well as TWO cartons of eggs.

HA!

Take that Shawn!

Two can play at THAT game!!!

Well this is where the whole thing gets interesting.

If we are buying yogurt I usually head to Fred Meyer. We all like their store brand stuff and it's for a good price. (figuratively speaking of course) As we head into the store I ask Shawn where he plans to be. Home Entertainment is usually his favorite hot spot, but (as I have pointed out in previous Shawn posts) Health and Beauty (Health and Toiletries is more accurate a term, but, for some reason, Health and Beauty is the name that has stuck) is always a favorite place to spend an hour or two.

Amazingly enough he doesn't seem terribly interested in either of his favorite destinations. I suggest that he come with me and he agrees that this sounds like a good way to spend his time.

In retrospect, I wonder if it was with the intention to keep me away from those pesky eggs. No. I refuse to believe that. Shawn can't possibly be that devious.

Or could he?

I suggest that we make a beeline to the refrigerated dairy section so we can get the much needed yogurt. Shawn is in full agreement.

Okay, Dairy aisle.

Here we are at Yogurt.

I hold the cart, Shawn procures.

"Alright Shawn, first of all let's get 4 Pina Coladas". If I'm eating yogurt at all that is my flavor choice, Don likes P.C. too.
Showing a marked lack of enthusiasm Shawn reaches for and brings down 4 Pina Coladas.
Hmm, funny. He has liked that flavor well enough before.
Well, now to get to the real Meat and Potato flavors.

Me: "Okay Shawn, how about 4 Raspberries?"

Shawn: "I don't really like Raspberry."

What?

WHAT?

What on Earth does he mean by that? Raspberry has always been a clear favorite.

It continues,

Me: "Okay, how about some Stawberry Banana?" (my personal disfavorite)

Shawn: "No. No. I don't really like Strawberry Banana."

Weird. But then we ARE talking Strawberry Banana after all.

Me: "Well lets get 5 Peach, okay? I know that you and Kelly like Peach."

Shawn: " Yeah fine, for Kelly, I don't really like Peach."

It's now official, this yogurt picking is getting just plain weird.

We go to Strawberry Vanilla. Courtney's favorite, but she doesn't live here anymore so 2 or 3 should be enough. Shawn again points out that he's not a fan.

Blueberry? No. I don't like blueberry. (Since when. Quickly crosses my mind)

Just plain Strawberry?

Ditto.

Now we only have Vanilla left and since no one ever wants Vanilla we are basically done with all of the flavors. (For some reason Lemon and Lime, two flavors that I really like, are only in the sugar free form. Yech.)

I look at Shawn.

Shawn looks at me.

I think he knows that he has some explaining to do.

Me: "Shawn, what's going on here? How come all of a sudden you don't like any of these flavors?"

Shawn: "I don't know. I just don't like them."

Me: "But Shawn, you have been after me for the last two days to go get more yogurt. You've been bugging me practically hourly with the fact that we are OUT of yogurt. If you don't like yogurt any more then why have you been so upset that we are out of it?"

Shawn: (This said with a completely straight face) "I've been telling you that we are out of yogurt for everyone else. "

Uh Huh. . . . .

What else can I do but admit defeat.

Shawn's new altruism, for the welfare, of the greater good of his yogurt starved family members is, truly touching.

Am I being just a bit cynical?

Of course I am.

But,
to be perfectly honest,
I have to admit that I am impressed with Shawn's ability to take this little game of How-Can-I-Get-Mom-Out-of-The-House-Today strategy to such a high level. I'm going to have to sharpen my skills if I hope to be a match for this young man who has discovered that the needs of The Family, can be just as vital and earth-shattering as the needs of The One (The Shawn).

What's next on his little agenda?

We need to get more Reeses Peanut Butter Cereal for the next time Abbey and Lindsay are here?
We should maybe have an extra pair of socks for those times when Lorelai can't find the ones she took off the second she walked through the front door?

Where will it all end?

I am clearly going to have to start working on my A game if I ever again want to spend a nice quiet day at home.

As I get ready to finish off this post with a nice pithy little flourish, who should come up and stand behind me but. . . .

Yup.

You guessed it.

My

Mr.

Shawn.

Shawn: "I think today is Wednesday."

Me: "It sure is. Today is definitely Wednesday."

Shawn: "We still haven't gotten those new toothbrush heads for the Sonic Toothbrush yet, have we mom?"

IT

BEGINS!

Penny's from Heaven

2010-04-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Courtney and Nathan have just been blessed with a new little arrival.

They decided to adopt.

Just last Thursday,

after some serious contemplation,

and discussion,

Courtney went to meet her new little bundle of joy at the Pizza Barn in Finley,

of all places.

Nathan would have loved to have be there as well but he couldn't get away from work.

Her name is Penny. She is a precious little Red-Head, with the sweetest big brown eyes you've ever seen.

Needless to say, here at Sorenson central we are all smitten with this new little addition to the family.

Courtney was so thrilled and proud of her new little one that she brought her right over to my house so that Penny and Grandma could meet for the first time.

And now, courtesy of Lisa, I have pictures of Courtney and her darling little Penny to share with all of my friends.

I am thrilled to present to you,

Penny

Tee Hee

Did I fool anyone?

Probably not.

But anyway, isn't she just the cutest, sweetest, little thing?!?

We are all having so much fun getting to know her. She is such a little sweetheart.
I wish I had a picture of her tiny little pointed tail. It is so darned cute and it just wags and wags.

Of course as is quite often the case with new little "girls", Daddy Nathan, is making it hard for Courtney to practice much discipline. She was determined that Penny would learn to sleep in her little bed on the floor but after a few whimpers Nathan gives in and insists that it's not going to hurt anything to let Penny sleep in their bed with them.

Courtney doesn't really mind though. She says that Penny snuggles up around her neck and they sleep together quite comfortably.

Courtney has also gotten a hold of some recipes and plans to make Dog Food.

I love seeing what a sweet little mama Courtney is with her new puppy. Abbey, Lindsay, Alexandra and Lorelai have all met Penny now and I think it is safe to say that they all love this new little "cousin" and hope to be able to spend as much time as possible with her.

I guess I really only have one quandary with all of this. . . .

Do I include one sweet little Daschund puppy in my grandchildren count?

A small annoyance

2010-04-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

Do you want to know one of the things that really makes me mad?

I hate whenever I voice a concern/complaint about something to a cashier/waiter/head of department-type person and they call over a supervisor for help.

Don't misunderstand my gripe here.

Usually the calling of someone of higher authority is my idea. I don't like wasting words or time on someone who doesn't have the means of satisfying my dilemma.

So quite often, the superviser/manager/owner/whatever, is called by my request.

Here is what irks me.

The second the higher up, shows up, (in fact often before said superior has even had a chance to come to a complete stop), the employee will start to rapidly expound on what MY problem is.

This makes me SO mad.

I am the one with the question and or problem. And as far as I'm concerned it is MY right to speak for myself to the superviser.

I have never liked to let anyone else speak for me.

Plus I'm not stupid.

It's quite obvious that the employee who I have a problem with is trying their hardest to turn the situation around to where I am the bad guy.

I decided a few years ago that I will no longer allow this to happen.

Now, when I run into a situation where I feel the need to go over someone's head I will not let anyone but myself explain my problem.

Let me tell you, it feels so much better to be able to tell the PIC (person in charge) what is irking you, all by yourself, instead of letting some, verbally challenged, self serving, little minion, try to explain your problem to their supervisor while at the same time making sure to cover themselves from any possible blame or wrong-doing.

So, just for the record, this is one more of my little rules to live by.

I do realize that there are times when letting someone else speak on your behalf is not only a good thing but most likely the smartest thing to do.

That's why we have Lawyers after all.

But for all of those other times.

When an employee has been rude, dismissive, ill informed or just plain stupid.
When I need something explained or (more likely) want to explain something myself.

When,

I want to point out a discrepancy,

all by myself,

in my own words,

without interference by someone who just wants to cover their own butt,
then please, just stand aside, shut your mouth,

AND

LET

ME

SPEAK

FOR

MY OWN FLIPPIN'

SELF!!!!!!!!!

To Etsy or Not To Etsy

2010-04-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you know about ETSY. It's a site where people sell their handmade items. I had an ETSY shop for a while but I got frustrated that things didn't sell well.

I tried to access my shop a few months ago and the site wouldn't let me.

I figured that they must have 86ed me for inactivity.

I tried it again a few days ago and this time I was able to get back in.
I still have a few dresses that never did sell. I just today re-listed them and I am interested to see if I get any response for either of them.

If they sell, in fact even if they just plain receive any interest at all, I might make up a few new dresses to put up for sale.

I still haven't decided if the whole thing is worth the time and frustration.

I like the whole idea of getting paid for doing something I love to do,

but,

on the other hand,

I'm not crazy about taking on any extra responsibility. Not to mention that it's not really all that profitable. Although there is a certain satisfaction as well as validation in somebody paying you for something you made.

I don't know.

I'm kinda on the fence here.

If you are interested, here is a link to my shop. You can click on the 6 sales to see the dresses that I have already sold.

I would appreciate any feedback you are willing to give.

So, what do you think?

These are the two dresses I put back up for sale.

I guess I could also put the fact that I have access to such lovely little models among the "reasons for"

Thank you Lorelai!

book fair

2010-03-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Every year in March I go back to my kid's old Elementary School and work the Book Fair for the School Librarian Tana, whom I've become friends with over the years.

Several (and I do mean several, like about 12) years ago it was my daughter Courtney's last year at Eastgate. I think I had volunteered to work the Book Fair every year since she was in First grade. Tana, the Librarian told me that she didn't know who she would be able to count on the next year since I would no longer have a child at the school any more. I told her that I would do it the next year anyway.

She was so happy and relieved. And I have done the Book Fair for her every year since.

The demographics of Eastgate have changed considerably since my oldest children Donald and Heidi started there over 27 years ago. Most of the kids these days, come from poor families and the biggest percentage of them are Hispanic. That basically equals zero parental involvement.

So my coming back every year to work the Book Fair is a BIG DEAL to my friend Tana.

Plus, I love to do it.

My favorite part each year (well for the last 5 or so) is when Lisa brings the girls to see me and to buy books.

It's so fun to have them come and to be able to show off my darling little granddaughters. Plus, I love watching how excited Lex and Lori get over all of the Books.

This year Lorelai actually came up and whispered to me that she wanted to buy a specially packaged three pack book set for Alexandra with her very own money.

Oh be still my heart.

Is there anything more rewarding than seeing the love that your little granddaughters have for each other?

Well, I guess that about sums up my Book Fair experience. Lisa took lots of pictures so I'll just shut up and let them speak for themselves.

Lex and I share a few laughs.

Elisabeth decided that taking off her socks was a good way to pass the time.

Oooh. Pencils. Of course the girls never really want for pencils, but DANG, these are Eastgate Book Fair pencils.

I share a happy "Hi to Grandma" moment with my precious little Elisabeth.

Those pencils just wouldn't stop screaming their names.

Happy, happy times.

See ya next year Tana!

American Idol-One Over Ripe Banana

2010-03-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

As I have stated before, I am an American Idol fan.

However. . . .

I am NOT a fan of all the stupid ways they come up with to stuff the show.

Stuff it beyond recognition, that is.

I don't give a flying fig about the contestant's families. I couldn't care less about hearing all of their "heartwarming" back stories. I don't want to meet the parents. Or the spouses. Or the children.

I don't give a rip if they came from such a small town that it only has one stop light, one gas station and the closest drive through is twenty miles south.

And I absolutely DO NOT CARE if they have overcome hard times, grown up in poverty, or overcome childhood illness. I really don't need to hear how they came to this country at the age of ten and their (oh so brave) family had to start from scratch.

BIG FLIPPIN' DEAL!!!!!!

If I want to watch that mushy gushy crap,
if I want my heart (and mind) manipulated (which, trust me, I don't) I'll watch Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel.

I just want to see and hear people sing.

Is that really asking so much?

It is a singing contest isn't it?

It really steams my vegetables that they have to keep the songs so short that it seems they just barely get a good momentum worked up and POOF the song is over.

Last night was a TWO HOUR LONG SHOW!

Twelve contestants.

That means six per hour.

Even taking into consideration commercials and of course the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, from the judges, there should have been at least three and a half minutes for each singer to do justice to their song of the week.

Instead, we are treated to. . . . . Even more

boring,

cloying,

gee don'tcha just feel the love,

mind numbing,

Family background drivel on EACH and EVERY one of the contestants.

Why do we put up with it?

Or more importantly, why am I putting up with it?

I realized last night that out of the twelve performances there were only maybe three of them that I actually enjoyed.

Then I realized that I can watch those same performances on You Tube, almost immediately afterwards.

I don't have to watch that nasty, can't keep his big fat hands to himself, egomaniac, Mike Lynche.

I don't have to suffer through another pathetic song by "How the hell did she end up there in the first place" Katie Stevens.
Ditto that for Tim Urban, Didi Benami and Lacy Brown.

And sorry Andrew Garcia, you really did bring the house down with your super cool audition rendition of Paula's "Straight Up", but it appears that you are the closest thing to a One Hit Wonder that American Idol has ever produced.

I've decided that it's just not worth my time to sit through roughly 50 minutes of WINDBAGGERY for a fleeting few minutes of way too short, Payoff.

Crystal Bowersox, you are amazing.

I hope you come out ahead. I hope you put out a CD, and I hope that "said CD" has your incredible version of "Long As I Can See The Light" on it.

And I hope,

for your sake,

I really, truly,

hope,

you don't win.

I think you are way better than that.

It would absolutely break my heart to hear you sing some asinine song about rainbows and taking chances that Kara Diogaurdi, will no doubt write and force the winner to sing.

Come to think of it maybe it would be fitting for someone awful like "Big Mike Lynche" to win and be forced to start his pathetic career with another horrible American Idol "Winners" song.

And of course I'm sure that there will be another "Idol Gives Back" episode this year that I will need to avoid at all costs.

Yeah.

As if THAT'S not one of the most painful 2 to 3 hours of bloated, gosh-isn't-this-just-the-most-generous-forced-feel-good-TV-event, ever, thought up by TV execs.

I really do hate to give up a show that I thought I was a fan of.

I just can't take any more of the pointless, mindless, blathering and idiotic, time wasting filler just so Fox can make the most of their advertising dollars each week.

If,

and I know that this is one big

IF,

but if,

things change,
and
the show decides that it really is a singing show after all
and
decides to get rid of all of the fluffy "how well do you REALLY know this years contestants" filler claptrap, crap.

Well, give me a shout and I'll come back and become an American Idol fan once again.

Of course, I do realize that if this really, truly, is, Simon's last year, that there most likely won't be enough of the show left to amount to anything next year anyway. In which case i would just be delaying the inevitable.

And I try to never do that.

So good bye American Idol.

You are a textbook example of how Hollywood can NEVER, EVER, leave anything good alone.

I can only assume that 150 years from now you will be a nice little footnote in a chapter, on the Demise of "American Pop Culture at the turn of the Twenty First Century" in some first year Anthropology student's textbook.

Oh to be a fly on the wall of that classroom.

I (don't) like Mike

2010-03-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

I have become a pretty big fan of American Idol the last three-four years or so.

I never used to watch the opening rounds with all of the really bad auditions. It seemed to me like if you've seen one person butcher Mariah Carey or Michael Jackson you've seen them all.

I'm not sure why or even when I changed my mind but I do know that for last season, as well as this one, I've been there for the show from the very beginning.

I know that the season is far enough along now that people already have started to pick out their favorites.

I like to think that I pick my favorites strictly on sheer talent. I try to avoid becoming emotionally attached to any of them. I don't let a good back-story or cute personality sway me too much unless they have the talent to back it up with.

I think that the Sanjaya debacle of a few years ago bears me out here.

The contestants I have the most interest in right now are

A. Crystal Bowersox

B. Lilly Scott

C. Siobhan Magnus

D. Paige Miles

and as for the guys

A. Lee Dewyze

B. Casey James

I like a few of the others but I won't get into them because that's NOT what this post is about.

The one contestant that I do NOT like is

Mike Lynche.

I refuse to call him "Big Mike" or give into any of those "cutesy" other names the producers of American Idol have come up with while trying their hardest to push him in people's faces. However for the purposes of this post I will sink to it for a little while.

And do you know why I don't like him?

Because he is a flat out

BULLY!

I HATE bully's.

I first noticed it during the auditions and Hollywood week. He seemed to think he had earned his place as America's favorite because he was there auditioning and doing American idol while the little wife was at home giving birth to their first child.

I swear.

Could he have possibly been more manipulative?

He shoves his face in the camera no matter who it's focused on. And it made me so mad the inordinate amount of time the producers spent on him and his "oh, so, melodramatic," waiting for his wife to give birth.

Sorry contestants.

I don't buy it for a minute when you give us your bogus "heartbreaking" renditions of how you are

"Here for my son". or "I'm doing this for my daughter, so we can have a better life".

Uh huh.

Because, as we all know, the only way to give a child a happy, well rounded life, one filled with opportunity and love, is for mommy or daddy to become a. . . . a,

big

fat

famous

Singing Star.

Oh yes.

Why haven't the child rearing experts hit on this one before now?

I mean, just look at little Sean Preston and Jayden James "Spears".

How could the experts be so blind as to not see that the best chance for childhood happiness is for one's parent to be shoved into the national spotlight as the newest . . . .

American Idol.

So, sorry, "Big Mike".

I don't buy the whole, "look how much I'm giving up for my child and wife" schtick. As far as I'm concerned you are nothing more than an everyday, run of the mill, "Me First" selfish jerk, that cares more about himself than anything else on God's Green earth.

This is just one of the reasons why I'm not ever going to be a part of the "Gosh, but don't ya just have ta love him" Big Mike publicity machine.

Of course my big, BIG, reason for my strong dislike of him is for the reason I stated earlier,

He is a Bully.

I noticed it when he kept picking people up and SQUEEZING them.

Every single time he did it he was asked to NOT do it again. Did that stop him?

Of course not.

Instead, in typical bully fashion, he laughed it off and turns it on to the person "complaining" as if they are being the problem. I noticed the first week of "Real" competition, you know where America finally gets it turned over to them, so they can "vote for their favorites".

If you paid attention to his reaction to the judges, the first thing they did was to tell him that he had hurt them by picking them up. Ellen and Randy both told him that in no uncertain terms.

Did he apologize?

Hardly.

He did what bullies have done since time immemorial. He first of all tried to laugh it off. Then he acted as if he didn't even hear them. He tried to make them look and sound foolish for giving him any grief about anything.

"Oh come ON?!?!" "You all KNOW that I'm just a BIG Ole Lovable Teddy Bear?!?!?!"

And,

AND. . . when Simon finally made serious, and gave "Big Mike" his trade marked, no holds barred, judgement, of not only his performance but also his behavior, did Lynche finally show a little humility and own up to the fact that he's not as ALL THAT as he obviously likes to think he is?

Of course not.

The big jerk instead, basically said; "Hey Simon" while showing his bulging flexed bicep.

Yeah.

Oh Boy.

What a cuddly teddy bear of a guy.

The thing that I can't believe is that America seems to be buying into the whole "Big Mike" thing.

Can't they see what a jerk he is.

Can't they see that he forces himself into just about every shot of whatever contestant is having a bit of screen time?

If you don't believe me, go back and watch it for yourself. It's always with a "aw shucks, I'm just so darn likable, you know they all want me sharing their big moment with them" smile and mugging for the camera.

I hope America catches on pretty soon. Cuz, I just can't wait for the blessed "results" show when I will get to see my fellow Countrymen finally show

Big Mike

THE

DOOR!

Three Books. . . Three Reviews

2010-03-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

I think that most of my long time blog friends know that I love to read. In 2008 I even kept a reading log for the entire year because I had read an article on how few books the average person reads in a year and I knew that I was well above average in those statistics.

Turns out that I was right.

I read 35 books that year. If you want to read the post I did, listing each book I read along with remarks on each book you can go here.

I started to keep a log at the beginning of 2009 but for some weird reason I just couldn't get into reading much of anything last year.

I started quite a few books and just couldn't get interested enough in them to keep reading. This probably doesn't sound like a big deal to the rest of you but I consider it a problem. There are so many books I want to read, and being 52 I realize that I could be on limited time.

Geez, I sure hope not though.

I decided to get with the program this year. I've read three books that I can think of so far. It seems like I might be leaving one out but I guess if I have read a book in the last two months and can't even remember it, I must not have been too impressed.

Oh, did I make it clear that I'm going to give a few thoughts on each of the three books?

Well, I am. Here goes.

Handle With Care- Jodi Picoult

I know that a lot of women are huge Jodi Picoult fans. I was too.

At one time.

The first book of hers that I read was My Sister's Keeper. I really enjoyed it. I read a few other of her books after that first one, and unfortunately with each book I lost a bit more respect for her as an author.

I think that she's kind of a lazy writer.

Not that she doesn't do tons of research for each book. She does. I just think that she relies too heavily on textbook examples of the problems she writes about. And, because of that, she tends to write books that are too predictable, as well as way too contrived.
I also think that she uses the same literary devices over and over. If you read enough of her stuff, you will start to know how each book will go, simply because she did the same thing two books ago.

I'm not sure why i decided to read Handle With Care, feeling the way I do about her.

But I did. Sadly, I wasn't impressed this time either.

First off, I thought that the story fell together a little too conveniently. I won't give away too much, other than to say that almost the entire story hinges on an early event that in itself is utterly inconceivable.

The family goes on a vacation to Disney World.

They have a letter from a doctor explaining that their young daughter has a condition causing her bones to be extremely brittle and fragile. Obviously with a child so afflicted a letter of explanation would be extremely important to have with you at all times.

So what does the mother do, she tells her older daughter to be sure and grab the "ever so important" document to bring with them.
Why on earth doesn't the mother get it herself? Well, after all, they are in a hurry.

Uh huh.

Right.

Something that important. Something that could mean the difference between life and death. And the idiot mom leaves it to her pre-teen daughter to procure and bring it along.

Please.

Oh yeah. It gets even more far-fetched.

The dad is a cop.

Now of course Willow's parents, through an absolutely unbelievable chain of events, find themselves accused of child abuse, and have their children taken from them and put in protective custody. Now do the Florida cops do what you know they would do for a fellow officer of the law, no matter where he is from.

Nope.

Not in Jodi Picoult-land.

They treat this fellow cop as badly as they would the worst pedophile. Even, EVEN, after contacting his superior and being told that the daughter does indeed have the condition that the parents claim she has.

I also don't like how often Picoult likes to take good, healthy relationships and screw them up. I wouldn't mind if she had more realistic reasons for doing it, but she seems to do it just for the sake of ease of story telling. I don't believe for a minute that a woman could turn on one of her dearest and closest friends just because some lawyer mentions the possibility of being awarded a lot of money.

I also didn't like the way she told the story.

She had each character talking to the catalyst of the story, six year old Willow.
I found it a little disturbing that Willow's parents, as well as the other characters, would go into details of their sex lives and other messy little adult details while speaking to a child.
I also thought it made it obvious from the very start that Willow is not going to make it out of the story alive.

Another Picoult device by the way.

Picoult seems to really like including "The Forgotten Middle Type Child" in her books. Handle With Care is no exception. The older sister (I can't remember her name) was a typical Picoult "screwed up" sibling.

I won't say that I hated this book. Because I didn't. I just didn't find it the profound, earth-shaking, important book that I think she wanted it to be.

Next book:

Plainsong - Kent Haruf

I really don't get it.

This one comes with such high praise.

Go to Barnes and Noble, uh, dot-com that is.

look this one up,

read the praise heaped on it.

You would think that this book was another coming of such high literature as, say, To Kill A Mocking Bird.

Not EVEN close!

It was crude.

It was pointless.

It was endlessly wading through too many bad deeds, stupidity and just plain nastiness in exchange for way too small and brief of any kind of payoff.
I was halfway through this thing before anything even remotely good happened.
The sad thing is that the good parts, the human redemption, while way too small a part of the story, were really quite nice. The problem with this book though is that Haruf simply seems a lot more comfortable wallowing in the mud with his trashy, uncouth barely literate characters, than letting you spend quality time with the ones who are good and decent. I don't mind reading books that have unhappy themes. In fact ironically, the next book I will write about had plenty of those and I still really liked it.

I just think that if Haruf had spent more time showing the decent and rewarding side of his story and much less of the nasty, course, white trash elements, this book would have been much better and much more interesting.
For me, this book didn't come close to the ridiculous, EMPTY praise heaped on it.

Last but not least.

In fact the best of the three.

Shanghai Girls- Lisa See

I liked this one a lot.

It's funny because this one seems to me to be the book that "Plainsong" wanted to be. How interesting that through nothing more than sheer coincidence I happened to read them back to back.

The story does take a good long while to get to the happy parts.

The difference between it and the much lesser Plainsong, is that even the sad, unhappy and just plain frustrating parts of this book are so well written that you won't feel at all deprived.
The story concerns the life of two sisters. They are born into relative privilege in the Shang Hai area of China. The story follows them through their early years to mid life. They have many ups and downs, as well as several reversals of fortunes. Through it all, they not only endure but more often than not, thrive.

Like I said it is very well written.

The characters are quite complex and See does an excellent job of not only bringing them to life, but making you believe in them. Characters that you aren't at first meant to like, and for good reason, grow and change and develop into people that you come to understand and actually care about.

There is a lot of historical information folded into the story.

Not ever in a preachy or lecturey way either. It left me wanting to learn more about many aspects of, not only our own country, but that of China as well.
The only thing that I wasn't happy about is that the story is left hanging. I don't mind that too much, of course. I wish though that she would have given at least a hint that she plans to pick up the story at a later time.

I have decided to assume that she will. That will give me something to look forward to.

I hope.

Well, that is it for the three books I have read so far this year. I have a lot more that I plan to get to as soon as possible. I'll probably even write more reviews as I go along.

How about YOU?

Read anything GOOD lately?

2010-02-23T22:06:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I apologize for the huge margins. I was tired and didn't feel like taking the time to fix things after adding the picture of the . . . well read on and see.

Okay. Okay. I know. Time for a new post. It's amazing just how fast three weeks without a new post can go by.
I have one small happy to share and one semi serious "what I would do if".

My Small Happy;

This morning I just happened to look at the package of Oreo's on my dresser that Don bought last week and has been slowly eating for the last several days. All by himself.

I try to resist the Oreo temptation.
In fact I can honestly say that Don had pretty much had the entire bag to himself.

However,

This morning I looked at the empty package that had somehow managed to get polished off without any help from me.

I nudged it. You know? to make sure that it was indeed empty?!?

Yup. Just as I figured.

Empty.

One dead bag of Oreo's.
Or was it?

I looked inside.

Just to satisfy my curiosity before I toss it away. of course

Empty. Empty. empty. . . empty?????

Wait!

One small crumb. Just cookie. No cream.

Don't mind if I do.
Waaaait!

Do I see a larger flash of dark brown?

Way back in the way back.

One. Lonely. Forgotten. Oreo.

Wellll???

Well what? Of course I ate it. How lovely to have the one, last, almost undiscovered, Oreo.

Just one small problem. An unforeseen little dilemma concerning the dynamics of eating the LAST Oreo.

Do you know how frustrating it is to not be able to reach in and have. . . .

ONE

MORE

OREO???????

Now for my "What I would do IF"

You know how there are always old ladies who drench themselves in the most nasty obnoxious smelling perfumes ever. It's like you smell them coming five minutes before you can even spot them. And the stench of their favorite fragrance usually lingers in the air for hours afterwards.

And heaven FORBID you ever wind up in an elevator with a few of the red hatted dears who have apparently gone swimming in the stuff before descending on the mall.

Oh yes. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Well this is what I have decided to do if I ever end up winning a really big lottery. Well or making it rich in some other unlikely way.

I would go to every store. Every place wherever. Within, say, a 50 mile radius of Kennewick. Anywhere that they still sell one of the absolute worst smelling "Old Lady" Perfumes of all time.
Windsong

And buy up every single, retched, reeking, nasty smelling bottle of the stuff I can find. Then take it to the closest incinerator and destroy it all.

BWAAA HAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAA!!!! yes that's right cue the evil laugh

Avon used to have an equally horrible fragrance called Bird of Paradise. If you ever come across a rogue bottle of it please do what ever it takes to destroy it.

If I have offended anyone by this post, please realize that first of all

I. DON'T. CARE.

And second, be happy that you know once and for all that the people who run when they smell you coming aren't being rude at all.

It is simply an act of

Self preservation!

A few of Susan's rules to live by

2010-02-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

I have a few little rules I try to follow as I navigate through this experience we call life. For the most part I follow them without even thinking. They have become that ingrained into my thought process.

Occasionally I'll take shortcuts. And sometimes nothing bad happens.

But there have been a few times when, well, let's just say that I'm sure I'm not the only one who has faced a major screw-up or two.

In no particular order, or degree of seriousness, are some of the little things I have learned along the way that I am willing to share.

******************Susan's rules to follow********************

1.) Don't buy the first TV you see. In fact, if you have the time, don't buy it from the first store you visit. You can always go back you know. If you don't have the time to do a little comparison shopping then you're better off waiting a bit. (this goes for cars, houses, and bedroom furniture too.)

1. b.) There will ALWAYS be another REALLY GOOD DEAL!

2.) Don't race up escalators.
It's RUDE, and you could hurt someone. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life remembering the look on the face of the little girl you almost knocked down?

3.) If you don't know where you are going, then ask. If you get halfway there and still feel unsure, ask again! (This isn't meant for traveling. That's why GPS was invented. This is for those times when you are trying to find the right office, department, or person in charge.)

4.) If it doesn't look good on the model, there is no chance in, you know where, it's going to look good on YOU.

5.) Always wash your hands afterwards. Whatever afterwards may consist of, is no one's business but yours.

6.) If a nice thought goes through your head about someone (i.e. the person taking your payment, the woman sharing the elevator with you, the waitress bringing you your food, your friend, your sister or brother, anyone you have any contact with) then share it with them. It makes everyone feel good, and for all you know it could be just what that person needed to hear.

7.) If you really can't stand someone, try to remember that God loves them too. It's still fine to not like them, but at least you will have put things in a better perspective.

8.) Forgiveness is usually more for your benefit than the one you forgive. (That makes it a little easier I think)

9.) There's nothing wrong in questioning the things you are taught.

10.) Don't steal a parking space that you know someone is already waiting for.

11.) Don't go to a movie you really don't want to see just because every one else wants to. You know your own limits, stick to them!

12.) This one is SO obvious, but I will still include it.
If something sounds too good to be true, it almost always IS!

I have a lot more of these little "rules", as I'm sure most of you do too. In fact I would love for you to share a few of yours with me. I am always willing to learn from others and hear the things that matter to them.

(Not that I won't ever question it, of course.)

Some REALLY wishful thinking

2010-02-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

The other night I was hungry. It was about 7 in the evening and I really needed to think of something to eat. My problem is that I don't like hardly anything resembling real food any more.

This happens to me all the time.

I hardly ever make dinner more than two or three times during the week. I always make sure Shawn has a good dinner. (Thank you Donald and Lisa for the George Forman grill for Christmas) I can throw something in there, and in a few, I can serve him up a nice plate of grilled chicken, steak or pork with an accompaning baked potato or some other Shawn friendly side dish.

For the most part Don is usually (somewhat) willing to fend for himself.

He'll warm up leftovers from the few nights I do cook. He's also perfectly happy with a bowl of hot Campbell's, stuffed so full of crackers that you have to wonder if there really is any soup in there.

As for me, finding something to eat most nights can be extremely difficult, frustrating and stressful.

For the last several years, I have had to stand by and watch my
(once healthy) appetite turn into a . . . . .

meat hating,

egg loathing,

taco,

lasagna,

pizza,

sandwich,

chili,

spaghetti,

stir fry,

fried chicken,

turkey and gravy,

Mexican,

Italian

and

Chinese food
cringing,

BEAST!

I can barely stand to eat, more than a miniscule portion, of any of that stuff.
This is why, last Wednesday evening, around sevenish, I was in my kitchen, holding my refrigerater door open,

(open, I should mention, for much longer than I would ever allow one of my children or grandchildren to)

Trying my hardest to think of something to eat that would semi fill me up, for at least the next few hours, until I was ready to pack it in for the night, and begin, my only, slightly less stressful, efforts to get a good night's sleep.

Well as I stood there warming up the fridge and all of it's contents, I couldn't help but notice the can of Redi Whip.

Yes, you heard that right!

R E D I - W H I P

That upside down squirt can of sweet, creamy, goodness that will never, ever, be matched by the bland, artificial efforts of those Cool Whip making pretenders.

Can anyone truthfully resist the temptations, NO, the siren call of a nice, cold, red and white can of fresh, real cream, Redi Whip.

Well actually, yes, someone can. My son Donald. For some freakish reason he has never liked whipped cream in any of it's delicious forms.

I grabbed that can, held it upside down, right above my open mouth, and squirted AWAY.

And then, squirted some more.

And more.

Oooooh yes, for a few short moments, I was in heaven.

Of course I stopped myself after a few mouthfuls. I am a grown up. I am well aware of the fact that a can of Redi Whip, no matter how delicious and satisfying, does not a proper dinner make.

I don't even remember just what I settled on that night for dinner.

I think I had a cup of hot Chocolate Instant Breakfast, a Jonagold apple, (yes, those Jonagold apples) and a small hand full of Ritz crackers. I also made myself down a spoonful of Jif. For the protein you know?

I wasn't hungry any more.

But then I don't eat to be full these days. Just to not be hungry.

Still, I couldn't stop thinking about how great it would be, if one, really could, exist on a meal of Redi Whip.

For heaven's sake! They can send a man to the moon! Why can't they find a way to take something as lovely as Redi Whip and give it all the nutrients and goodness of a full meal, without changing the taste, or texture? And at the same time keeping the calories to a reasonable amount.

I wonder if there is anyone even working on such a thing?
I doubt it. They're all wasting their time on things like, cures for cancer.

Hold your angry comments That was just a JOKE!

I decided that I would engage in a little wishful thinking and come up with a menu for those, like me, who find the idea of a can of Redi Whip for dinner extremely appealing. This would all be on the assumption of course that the appropriate nutrition could be pumped into any junk food type item without changing it's taste, texture, smell or appearance.

For your wishful thinking pleasure, I present a sample of what I would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner in my own little, culinary, fantasy, world.

Breakfast; half a can of Redi Whip accompanied by a small belgian waffle loaded with fresh, sugar sweetened, strawberries. (See? that's not too unreasonable)

Mid Morning Snack: two cups of peanut M&Ms

Lunch; Dairy Queen, Mr Misty Blue Raspberry Float (have you ever had one? You simply MUST) and four, no, make that, six Oreo cookies

Mid Afternoon Snack; half a BIG box of either Jujyfruits or Starbursts and a few more squirts of Redi Whip

Dinner; Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae, and a small bucket of Movie Theater Popcorn with EXTRA butter

Dessert; Hey, even I am reasonable enough to pass on dessert.

Late Night Snack; Triple Chocolate Hot Coco topped with (DUH????) a generous mound of. . . . . .

REDI WHIP!

Today's HAPPY thought

2010-01-26T05:27:00.000-08:00

Do ya want to know something that makes me happy?

Something that makes me smile as it brightens my day?

It's finding Jonagold apples (Honeycrisps have all said bye bye) at my local Yokes market for .78 cents a pound.

It's buying several pounds of them, and hoping against hope that they will be good.

Good as in, never been in cold storage.

Good as in, not at all MUSHY.

Good as in, not too sweet.

Good as in, a nice slightly tangy taste.

And knowing that in mid to late January, the chances of finding apples that fit this discription are almost impossible to find. But wanting them so badly you are willing to take a chance on them anyway.

After all they are only .78 cents a pound.

And

guess

what????

They are delicious!!!!!!

Britney Spears sells dress for Haitians

2010-01-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

I really hate Celebrities.

With very few exceptions they are the most
self important,
self promoting,
self indulgent,
stingy,
attention seeking,
and
downright nasty people on earth.

Ever since the tragedy in Haiti, it seems that you can't turn on your TV or radio, or read a newspaper or browse the Internet without some worthless Celebrity being forced in your face for their "heroic" efforts to save the hundreds of thousands of victims suffering from the devastating Earthquake of two weeks ago.

I would really like to see any of these shallow, spoilt, self important, idiots actually make a big enough contribution to cause themselves even the slightest amount of pain.

The other day, I read an article praising Madonna for her contribution to the cause.
Apparently she went through her furniture looking for loose change and announced to her adoring masses that SHE was sending a contribution of 200,00.00 to Haiti.

Oh my!

And then to show how even more selfless she could be she challenged her many fans to match her donation.

Did ya hear that all you Madonna fans?!?

She wants you to match her generous offering.
I'm sure that even Madonna is savvy enough to realize that her average fan is far short of having an extra two hundred thou to send to the rescue and recovery efforts.
She clarified her intentions.
Of course.
She told everyone to send as much as they can.

Hmm, how amusing that she has the nerve to expect anyone to send more than a dime or two. After all, if a fan was to give the same percentage of their, yearly net, as she did with her minuscule 200,00.00 it would amount to, perhaps, a quarter.
For the better off fan, gee, why not do Madonna one better and send off a really extreme amount.

Like say a ten dollar bill.

And that fan would still have sent more, by comparison, than "The Ever Holy" Madonna.

Do you know the people who's contributions really do make the world go round?

Those spotlight shy, individuals, whom I guess, would best be called "Old Money". You know those who didn't make their fortunes overnight.

They didn't sing, act, slam dunk a basket ball or host game shows to account for their millions and billions. Many of them have made their fortunes the old fashioned way. Through education, hard work and perseverance. Not to say that there aren't those multi-millionaires who see no need to look beyond their own lavish front gates.
But from my observations, those old, monied, families have a far greater appreciation of what they have and feel a more urgent need to give back than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ever could.

Or would.

Did you know that Nicolas Cage has more than ten mansions worldwide and way more rare and uber expensive cars than would ever fit in a 20 car garage. Oh yeah, and the poor guy is, of late, having money problems.

How very sad.

I just can't understand that kind of gluttony.

How on earth does someone like that live with themselves. To have that kind of wealth and use it exclusively for their own excessive self indulgence.

I don't know.

I never have and I'm sure I never will, come close to that kind of money. So maybe there is something I don't know about.
Does having that kind of wealth change a person so extensively that every good and kind thought you ever had, every hope of one day being able to help others, becomes so foreign to you as to render you incapable of love or compassion for your fellow beings.

Unless, of course, you can make the front page of USA Today.

I would hate to think that, that kind of selfishness and greed would be the rule instead of the exception.

Celebrities do as little as they can, while demanding the largest amount of attention and praise as possible. Why do you think they are putting on yet another of those sickeningly, self righteous, "We are the World" type "fund raisers".

They want to get the maximum amount of exposure they possibly can while putting out as little as they can.

We, the everyday Joe's, WE, are the ones expected to donate, to these ridiculously self serving "Events".

Just think.

If every single one of those ever so generous Celebrities were to give, say, maybe a twentieth of their annual income towards these, oh so worthy causes, there would be more available funds for relief than could ever be raised from one of their silly little Sing-a-thons.

So, Britany Spears, sweetie, save your nice little dress that you've decided to sell to raise money for those poor Haitians. Go ahead and give it to Sean Preston's Pre-School fund raiser for ergonomically correct toddler chairs.

I'm sure they would love to have it.

If you, and all of your fellow famous do-gooders really want to sacrifice for those hurting Haitians, then why don't you challenge each other to see who can send the most millions to further that ever so worthy cause.

And to really surprise people, while making a "difference", hold off on your interviews and press releases.

Who knows?

A few of you may find out that doing good for the sake of good and not to further your careers, might actually feel GOOD!

And in the mean time, be sure and check out that ever humble and generous little Justin Timberlake.

He is performing LIVE.

For relief for Haiti.

Such selfless generosity just kinda makes you feel warm all over.

The Princess and the Frog

2010-01-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

I loved this film!

If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it for everyone. Well, at least everyone that is old enough to know how to properly behave at a movie. There were two groups of parents, I think one was most likely a grandparent, with young children in the theater with us. Their children would NOT shut up. I gave them plenty of evil stares, but since I had three of my granddaughters with me I decided not to actually tell them to shut their kids up.

How smart do you have to be, to realize, that if your kid can't keep his mouth shut for the length of a movie then they are TOO YOUNG to be there.

Lorelai was the youngest of us and she didn't make a noise the entire time. It was that good. She and Abbey and Lindsay were so enthralled that they never took their eyes off the screen.

The music was incredible. I can't believe the reviews I've read complaining that Randy Newman shouldn't have been chosen to write (and perform) the songs. I have always loved jazzy, Cajun type music. And there is plenty of it. Anika Noni Rose, who is the voice of Tiana, is a pleasure to listen to.

She really brings her character, Tiana, to life.

I never have understood why the young women that provide the voices for the Disney Princesses never seem to be able to move beyond those roles. They all have such beautiful voices. Much more so than say, Britney Spears, Beyonce or Jessica Simpson. I would love to see Ms. Rose come out with an album. Her voice is so clear and pure, so alive! I could listen to her sing the phonebook and be happy.

The "side" characters are also done to perfection.

The villain, Dr Facilier is as evil as any Disney villain has ever been, but he is also quite fascinating. I've always loved reading about and watching anything concerning Voo Doo. Tiana calls him the Shadow Man. A very fitting nickname for a dark, dangerous man with one foot in the world of evil spirits. He is just plain fun to watch.

Then we have darling little Mama Odie. She is basically the opposite of Facilier. She performs magic as well but hers is tempered with wisdom and good values. She is blind as well as 200 years old, but with the help of a kind hearted and loyal pet snake name Juju she is still in top form.

Of course there are the typical Disney talking animals. They are a great bunch. There is Louis the big, fat, jazz loving, alligator. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, he just wants to play his trumpet. He longs to be human so that he can play with the many Jazz performers he hears on the Riverboats floating down the river. Then there is dear, friendly, loyal little Ray the Firefly. At first it seems as if he is there simply to be comic relief. As the story moves along though, his true colors shine through and he (as well as his new best friend Louis) show what brave and steadfast characters they actually are.

I heard a reviewer, (our local Mr. Movie. Yeah, he's as lame as he sounds) point out that Prince Naveen is not your usual Disney Prince. He seemed to consider that a bad thing. Trust me it's NOT. Of course the Prince has to be a shallow, materialistic, jerk, who only wants to party and have a good time. How else could he grow up and become a man thanks to Tiana's influence.

And then there is the animation itself. It is stunningly beautiful. Computer animation is wonderful of course but the old fashioned, drawn by hand, animation style is alive and well. Something I was so happy to see. After all, it's what I grew up with. And it's obvious that those Disney animators have not lost their touch.

All in all I give this movie a great big THUMBS UP!

And I'm sure that if I include Heidi, Shawn, Abbey, Lindsay and Lorelai, that it would be a solid SIX THUMBS.

You certainly can't argue with that. Do yourself a favor if you haven't taken the time to see it yet.

GO!

I realize that I can't speak for everyone, but this film is worth whatever it costs to see it on the BIG SCREEN!

The BOY is back

2010-01-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

Apparently, my son Donald has decided to return to the world of Blog. I took his blog off my sidebar because he had more or less decided to stop blogging. In favor of Facebook.

I honestly don't get Facebook.

I've seen it, I just don't see the appeal.

Please, no hate mail.

I'm not saying it's stupid or a waste of time. I'm simply pointing out that I have NO interest in it.

Anyway, this short little post is being done to let my friends know that my son has started utilizing his blog again. He is, for the most part, even wordier than me. But quite enjoyable never the less.

So if you have never seen his blog you should go check him out. Maybe if her gets enough attention he'll decide that his blog is worth it after all.

Here is the link.

Thank you and goodbye for now.

Prized Posessions

2010-01-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hey, remember about seven posts ago, when I talked about the small things I had, that meant so much to me?
It was inspired by a list of important life lessons my daughter Heidi had posted the day before on her blog.

One of them, number seventeen, really resonated with me.

In a nutshell it said to get rid of all your excess stuff, and to hold on to only those things that were useful, or if not exactly useful that really meant something to you. I realized that without intentionally doing it I had done it.
I wrote about the small, seemingly unimportant, little treasures I had accumulated over the years that to the casual observer may not look like much, but that meant an awful lot to me.

Well, I promised to put up pictures. That meant getting Lisa's help. I do have a nice little digital camera, and I actually do use it once in a while. But in this family, if you want beautifully done photos you go to either Lisa or my daughter Heidi.

They are both pretty incredible.

All right. Enough background. If you never saw the post you can read it here.
I can be succinct, clear and concise if I really put my mind to it.

At least I like to think I could.

Like, say, if someone put a gun to my head.

Alright, alright.
Without further adieu (or explanation) here are pictures of a few of my favorite things.

I love these. These are the paper dolls I made for Courtney when she was around nine years old. I mentioned these in my earlier post. I have made probably at least a hundred sets of paper dolls in my life time. Most of them before the age of 18. And one day I was thinking about them and wishing I had kept even a few of them.

That was when I decided to make some new ones. It had been a LONG time since I had drawn anything, so it took me a while to get the first doll done to my satisfaction.

I had so much fun. I made lots and lots of clothes for her. In fact I ended up making another one using the same body but drawing different hair and face. That was so Courtney's best friend Karleen would have her doll to play with too.

Oh how I wish I had one from my childhood to compare these to. I would be so interested to see which ones were better.

Well, the dolls were a huge hit.

Courtney and Karleen even took them to school to play with at recess. Of course they were the envy of all the other girls. Well the ones who weren't trying to pretend they were way to old and sophisticated to have an interest in something as juvenile as paper dolls.

They had been so much fun. Courtney then asked me if I had ever done little girls before.

The funny thing is that I don't think I ever did. When I was younger I made them to be whatever age I was at, at the time. That way I could dress them in all of the styles that I loved but didn't have. Well of course I did have clothes. I craved the clothes though that I saw the older girls wearing.

I mean think about it.

This was the era of Go Go Boots and Hip-huggers and all kinds of cool sixties fashions. Could you blame me for a little vicarious fashion wearing through my paper dolls?
I think NOT.

I decided that I would very MUCH like to make a set of little girls.
So I did.
They turned out so darn cute that they are my absolute favorites.

Aren't they just so cute? The picture only shows a small part of all of the adorable clothes I made for them. And who knew at the time that the outfit with the Mickey Mouse head would one day thrill a little grandaughter that at the time I wasn't even thinking ahead to.

And yes. It is one of Lorelai's favorite outfits for my little baby girl dolls.

While I'm on the subject of paper dolls, below is a picture of the darling little wooden doll my sister Janice bought for me several B.C. (before she had children) years ago.

I also have my little Happy Meal Dutch Barbie in this picture as well as the 2 dollar bill I won from David in one of his first contests/give-aways.

This is one I forgot to mention in my post that day. It's a little bar of soap that my oldest daughter Heidi made for me at her church girl's group activity to give me for Mother's Day when she was nine or ten.

I could never bring myself to use it. So it has been renting space in my bottom drawer ever since.

Don't worry. My rates are very affordable.

Alright. Now we come to my oldest and most favorite of all of my favorites. I already told the story of my little Piglet and how I acquired her.

It probably wasn't one of my finest moments, but hey, I was just a kid.

Here is my sweet little, 45 years young, porcelain painted piggy bank Piglet.

Isn't she just the SWEETEST?????

I know that there have been countless cheap knock offs of her seen in dollar stores and various other places over the years. Some of them weren't really even that cheap. I've seen a few that actually look pretty similar to her.

But.

As far as I'm concerned they are merely pale imitations, of my beloved little Piglet.

Like I pointed out in my earlier post, she has her share of the war wounds you would expect a little piggy of her years to carry. I have lovingly glued her back together more than twice. And as you can see in this last picture there was one time when I couldn't even find all of her to glue back on.

She takes it in stride. She knows that she is loved and she is happy with that. She never was one to put on "airs", my humble sweet little piggy.

Well, there you have it.

The things that I love.

The things that I hold on to year after year.

Some, like David's two dollar bill, are fairly new to my collection. Most are much older and at times almost forgotten. But never for long. All it takes is an occasional sighting of one or more of them and I am reminded of how simple life can be. I realize how little a person really needs to enjoy life.

It's a lesson I am happy to remember time after time.

And I will use them to remind me of that. If I ever find myself getting carried away with too much longing for things I will most likely never have, my little treasures will be there.

Ready to pull me back to earth and ground me in reality.

One last Christmas post and then on to the next thing

2010-01-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

I completely forgot to post this picture.

Here I am with my first three sisters at Christmas of 1962. At least by my figuring it is 1962.

Starting at the far left is me (with my hands in the air). My baby sister Linda, my year older than me sister, Barbara (holding the big doll), and my year younger than me sister, Kathy (I believe her doll is taking a nap)

Providing background, would be our TV, our super cool 60's pole lamp, our Christmas Tree, and my dad.

Oh, and playing a supporting background role, would be a plant and our old maroon chair.

I will assume that no explanation is necessary for the various toys scattered around.

Courtney for Christmas

2009-12-30T08:20:00.000-08:00

This is my youngest child Courtney. She recently turned 22.

She lives across town with her very significant other of almost two and a half years Nathan.

They are very much in love and very happy.

There is however one small problem.

We don't get to see her very often.

And as seldom as we see her, Alexandra and Lorelai see her even less. The girls really love their aunt Courtney, and have been asking why she is never here when they come to visit or for Sunday dinner every week.

Lisa and I have worried that they may start to forget her. After all, to a five and seven year old, a few months without seeing someone feels a lot longer than it would to you or I.

I mentioned this to Courtney and asked her to please try to make a little time for her adoring nieces.

*******And guess what?*******

She DID!

She decided to send Nathan to spend some Christmas Eve time with his family, (well actually, I think it was mutually decided, Courtney's not that bossy) and Courtney came and spent Christmas Eve with us.

Were the girls excited to see their mostly absent Aunt Courtney?

I'll let you decide.

We let her open all of her presents from us since she wouldn't be around the next day for Christmas.

Lex and Lori were more than happy to be a part of it. After all there's nothing like a little vicarious present opening for two little girls who have to wait til Christmas morning to open theirs.

She couldn't resist checking in with Nathan.

She is a product of these super connected 21st century times after all.

The second gift she opened were the slippers I had gotten her. The girls were so astonished (and thrilled) to see that they were the same kind that Donald had gotten for them just a week ago.

A picture had to be taken as proof of course.

From Donald and Lisa?

A gift card to one of her favorite places.

She really appreciated it too.

One small note; A couple of weeks earlier Donald and Lisa had also given her one of the best gifts they possibly could.

Donald's old (but still very nice and mostly reliable) car when he got himself a new one. I am so proud of the love and generosity my children show towards one another!

Courtney and Nathan might be completely happy together in their little place but they are also usually flat broke as well. Something they take in stride quite well, believe it or not.

Well, as you know, all good things must come to an end.
The girls had gotten a nice long visit with Courtney. She had a really good visit with her loving family. But she and Nathan were really looking forward to spending their first Christmas together all on their own.

And they all lived,

*********** Happily Ever After**********

Update

OOPS. . . . . . .

Sorry Kelly.

I was wrong about the gift card being from Donald and Lisa.

It was from Kelly. Who very lovingly and generously got really great gifts for everyone in the family. I hate making these kinds of mistakes.

Next time:

more research!

2009-12-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry to take so long to show you what Shawn gave me (and Don) for Christmas.

He was so excited for me to open it and I assure you he was not disappointed.

I told him that I thought it was a really good choice. I pointed out to him that I loved Alien (As well as Aliens, after that I thought the whole franchise fell apart. Why can't they ever leave well enough alone?) And, I told him that I liked Predator as well.

Of course it was agreed that it was also appropriate for his viewing since it was PG13. And of course he showed me his favorite part of any DVD box.

The "Rating".

But more importantly why it has received that particular rating. Shawn read it to me with great pride,

PG-13

Violence, Language, (he kinda tried to skim past that one. The little stinker) Horror Images, Slime and Gore.

The last three descriptors, Horror, Slime, Gore, said with great emphasis.

It should be pointed out that Shawn loves those "off the beaten path" descriptive words the best.

Have I watched it yet?

No. I haven't.

I will though.

One day.

I'm pretty sure that as long as I'm willing to "share", that he won't really ever feel the need to check on whether I've actually ever watched it or not.

Thank you Mr Shawn.

Next time, I think I will have to point out to him how much I would like a DVD copy of "You've Got Mail".

So. How was your Christmas?

A Shawn Christmas story

2009-12-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

See this picture? Do you want to take a guess what it's all about? First of all the big black lump is our kitty Sasha. She is not a part of this post. She just enjoys laying under the Christmas tree.

As for the significance to the rest of the picture, I doubt you would be able to figure it out so I will tell you.

Thursday, Shawn had VIP.

I've mentioned VIP before but to refresh memories or for those who are newer to my blog or maybe just missed some posts, I will explain that VIP is an ARC program. It's meant for their higher functioning clients. Those who don't need constant supervision. They go out on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do different things around town. They go shopping, bowling, swimming, (Shawn does not go on swimming days, btw, the thick chlorineey air makes him sick, the same as it does with me).

They go to movies, to lunch, things like that. Roughly twice a month they stay at the ARC building and have cooking days, or game days or watch a dvd days.

Shawn loves VIP.

It gives him something fun and social to do. And even better for me, I get two days off a week.
This Thursday they went shopping.

To Wal-Mart.

One of Shawn's favorite places to not only shop, but to also hang out in the Home Entertainment section pouring over every dvd in the place, and, sometimes checking out the games and cd's.
I usually give him some money to shop with. Not more than five dollars though.

I'm not being stingy here. I just know my son.

He has very little understanding of money. If I give him too much he gets frustrated if he has leftovers. I've told him more than once that he doesn't have to always spend every last dime. And in typical Shawn fashion he says, "I know that mom. I know that!"

Then he will come home all agitated because he couldn't find anything to spend his last 62 cents on.

Shawn "knows" lots of things.

He can recite all kinds of rules, and he knows why they are important and why he needs to follow them.

The only problem is that when it comes to acting on those rules he most often doesn't. It's not that he is misbehaving, it's just that a rule that is known and a rule that is actually followed, in Shawn's mind you are talking apples and oranges.

Remind me to expound on this one of these days.

Well, this post does have a point. A very nice one too.

On Thursday I gave him five dollars. I also gave him 35 cents for tax. Sometimes I don't think about the tax. As far as Shawn is concerned, if he has five bucks, and the item that he wants to purchase is five bucks then he has enough money. There is no point in trying to explain to him that you also have to tack on 8.3% for tax.

Like I said earlier, apples and oranges.

So yesterday he came home from VIP. He didn't have any money left over. I asked him if he had spent it all, and he answered that he had. Then he said, with great pride, that he used it to buy a present for me and dad.

This is BIG!

Shawn has been sent on his merry way, to many, many, Christmas shopping excursions. Before he had VIP, his school class always had their shopping day every Christmas season. Just a few days before Christmas break.

I always gave him a fistful of cold hard cash.

I would even give him little pointers on some things he could buy with his money. Usually they would be ideas for gifts for his sister Courtney. Shawn is very devoted to her and was always fond of the idea of getting her a present.

Here comes the rather sticky part.

He would come home from his shopping. I would ask what he had decided to buy. And even as he was telling me what he had gotten for his sis, he would be opening it up and either eating it or using it himself. Of course, he couldn't help but rationalize, that Courtney probably wouldn't like that pack of cookies. And of course he realized that he probably needed that box of band-aids much more than she ever would.

That, in a nutshell, was how Shawn did his Christmas shopping.His intentions were always pure.
Every once in a while he would even go so far as to bring home his purchase, declare it was for some family member, and hide it in his room so it wouldn't be inadvertently discovered. The fact that by that evening he was already opening it and eating or using it hardly mattered to Shawn's way of thinking.

Well, yesterday, I witnessed a semi miracle.

Right after he told me that he had bought a present for me and dad, he took it upstairs to hide it in his closet. I don't know for sure just what he got but I pretty much assume it is one of Wal-Mart's five dollar DVDs. That would be the most likely five dollar item for Shawn to buy at Wal-Mart.

I waited a bit.
I came upstairs to see what he was in his room watching.
I fully expected it to be mine and Don's present.

IT WAS NOT!

He told me to not come in his room because I wasn't supposed to be snooping. The present was in hiding in his closet. I was rather politely told to stay out. Hmm. Could it be? Is it just possible that my present isn't on tonight's TV viewing schedule after all.

Cut to today.

By 11:00 this morning he had referenced the gift hiding in his closet no less than 30 times. Of particular worry was the exciting fact that Jeff and Heidi and Abbey and Lindsay would be here in a few days.
Shawn loves his nieces. He and Lindsay have a particularly close bond. They have been known to sit in his room watching movies and Mickey Mouse cartoons for hours on end. I guess this is what had him worried.
He mentioned over and over that when his nieces, Abbey and Lindsay (specific names are always used. I guess to avoid any confusion) get here he will tell them that they are NOT allowed to look in his closet.
Apparently this is one huge concern for him. It's easy to tell because by 1:00 he has mentioned it to me at least 50 times.

I told him that I had a rather handy little solution to any supposed snooping by two little nieces. This is after I had already pointed out to him several times that the girls aren't likely to even want to look in his closet if he doesn't say anything to them about it.

I mention to him that the best way to prevent any unwanted snooping would be to wrap that pesky old present up.

Light Bulb Moment!

Oh boy! (This said while rubbing his hands. His favorite way to show excitement) I honestly don't think he had thought that far ahead. All of a sudden the new Dollar Store Christmas wrapping paper that I had bought a few days ago, takes on a whole new importance.

Yes you got that right, I got it at the Dollar Store. They have some really good stuff.

Sometimes.

After a thorough inspection of all the Christmas wrap we have at the moment, it is formally decided that the Disney Pluto wrap will be best suited to his gift wrapping needs.

I offer to find him scissors and tape.

Which is quite silly of me. I strongly suspect that Shawn is a big reason why there is never any tape or scissors to be found in our house.
He seems to have things well under control so I get back to my sewing. I have procrastinated to the point that I now have, like, ten things to make in six days.

Not to worry. I can handle it. I've done it before.

A little while later Shawn comes downstairs to inform me that the present is wrapped. Obviously he is awaiting further instruction.
I ask him if he would like to put it under the tree. Oh BOY! Does he ever want to put it under the tree.

It is of some importance to the situation for me to mention that we don't have any presents under the tree just yet. (I'm almost done with the shopping I just haven't gotten around to any wrapping).

I assume that is the reason he felt the need for permission to stick it under that empty tree.

So, at the moment, the Sorenson household has exactly ONE present under our tree. From Shawn to mom and dad.

Now please understand that this is really a big deal. I don't think Shawn has ever before,
A. Gone shopping with real money (plus tax) to buy a Christmas present and not claimed it for himself in the first 24 hours.

And,
B. Actually wrapped said present all by himself, AND placed it under the tree.

As to what it will turn out to be, well, I have no delusions as to what it will most likely be. Remember when Homer bought Marge a bowling ball with the holes drilled to fit HIS hand? Remember when Fred Flintstone got Wilma a set of golf clubs with his name engraved on the bag.

Uh huh. Get my point here?

I am well aware that it is almost for sure going to be a five dollar dvd that Shawn felt our household was badly in need of. In fact, Shawn couldn't resist showing Kelly what he had got for mom and dad.

DON'T WORRY.
Kelly's no bean spiller.
He simply let me know that it is exactly what I would expect a Shawn present to be.
None of these details are of any real importance. The thing that matters to me is the fact that my Mr Shawn has done something that he's never done before.

He went Christmas shopping.

He bought something for me.

He didn't give into temptation and decide he needed it more than I did.

He wrapped it.

He placed it under the tree.

And now,

he will discover that special joy that comes with the knowledge that he has done something nice for someone else,
and,
if he can last the next week without telling, he will be treated to one of the best "happy & surprised" reactions I've ever given to anyone!

I will start practicing immediately.

Sitting here thinking. . .

2009-12-18T07:37:00.000-08:00

I know I have been doing quite a few posts lately asking you to first go read another post, but I want you to go read this post that Lisa's brother David published just recently.
Wasn't that a wonderful story about an incredible dog?
Well reading it reminded of something I had been thinking about just last week.

First, a little background

I am a Mormon. I'm pointing this out because having been born and raised in the church I find sometimes that I don't have a lot of knowledge of what other Christian churches believe.
As Mormons we believe that everything that our Heavenly Father has created, that is alive, has a spirit. Someone once told me that other Christians only feel that humans have spirits, not animals. I have a hard time believing this though, so, if I'm wrong on that please feel free to correct me.

I always enjoy hearing about other's beliefs.

Okay, now you will know where this idea of mine is coming from. And let me make it clear that this is entirely MY own idea. As far as I know this has never been official Church doctrine. Of course we believe that we are all able to learn things and figure certain questions out on our own. We believe that each person is entitled to personal revelation. Usually it is meant to mean that we can pray for and receive inspiration to help our family or anyone else we have stewardship over. But a lot of the time it's wanting to know things to help us have a better understanding of God and his good works.
Here is my question, and the answer I have come up with;

Do animals pray?

I have realized that I believe they do. Every time I hear about some heroic feat performed by an animal, I can't help but think, wow, that is one righteous dog.

Or cat. Or bird. maybe even ferret.

I think that since animals have spirits, that they are just as aware of a loving Heavenly Father as we are. Now I don't know about the lower life form creatures. I can't really comprehend a slug or frog or rattlesnake being very aware of their God. But then who knows. Maybe having a spirit, no matter how limited their intelligence, gives every living creature some vague, remote, idea, of something out there greater than themselves. I'm not going to tire myself out by thinking about something like that.

I do believe though that the more intelligent animals do have some kind of knowledge of their creator.

I'm sure that everyone has heard stories of people's pets performing amazing acts. How many times have we heard about a dog or cat finding their way home after being left somewhere hundreds of miles away from home?
It's a complete mystery as to how they could do something so amazing. And how about those animals who save people's lives. How do they know that someone is in trouble and needs help? Quite often they even know that something is about to happen before it even does.
They can be trained to sense when their owner is about to have an epileptic seizure. We all know about the wonderful companion animals who provide their selfless service to their blind, deaf or quadriplegic masters.

On the other hand, there are definitely animals who are just plain bad. Dogs who attack and kill for their own satisfaction.
Remember that chimpanzee who attacked and almost killed it's owners next door neighbor? I think that just like humans animals can be wicked as well as incredibly good.

The next time you hear of an animal who has done something amazing, the next time a dog shows up at his home after being lost several hundred miles away, stop and think about how they were able to know what they knew.

I have no way of knowing if it's true, but I think that it is quite likely that they know their Heavenly Father. They know that he will guide them, either back home, or, to find someone who can help in whatever situation where they realize that help is desperately needed.
The next time a cat wakes up his owner because the house is on fire, or the baby has crawled outside and is heading for the pool.

Ask yourself, how?

No matter how mysterious what they have done is, we know that there has to be some kind of explanation. So is it too far fetched to wonder if an animal's prayers are simply being heard and answered?

A last thought;

If this is interesting to you, go and google something like "heroic pets" you might see more and more evidence of Divine influence than you would have ever thought possible.

One last, last, thought;

I realize that I didn't actually define my ideas about animals praying. Animals are animals. they are not humans, so therefore the way they think and act would be according to whichever way a dog or cat would think or act. I didn't mean that they would literally get on their knees and say a formal prayer. That is how we humans pray. I won't presume to guess how different species go about their interactions with God. I'm sure that it is in a much more primitive way than we ever would. My point is that I believe that in their own way they are just as aware of God and his blessings as any human could ever be.

wisdom

2009-12-10T11:46:00.001-08:00

A Note of Warning: I know that this post is going to be extra long. I hope you will stick with me though. I think this is going to end up being one of my favorite posts of all time. Please take the time as well, to go to my daughter's post that I refer to and read the list of things that have inspired me to write this one.

I just read my daughter Heidi's newest post. She received an e-mail of beautiful thoughts and ideas written by a very wise woman named Regina Brett. Follow this link to her post and please take the time to read them all. You won't be sorry.

After reading this wonderful list I found that I was quite pleased at how many of these tenets I already have learned to follow. Even though several of them have taken me around 48 years or more to learn. I look at myself and realize how much more I like me, certainly more than I did 20 or 30 years ago.

I know that so many of the things I have learned can usually only come with age.
I sure hope that if I can make it to my 90's that I will have as much wisdom to share as Ms. Brett does.
A few of those little "pearls of wisdom" really resounded with me.

Non-assuming Number 17 struck me like a thunder bolt.

I realized that I already follow this one quite a lot. In fact the thing that I immediately thought of was the 2 dollar bill that I won from David several months ago in one of his blog giveaways.

I will never spend it.

I simply keep it in one of my drawers. Every time I'm looking through them for something and I see that perky little 2 dollar bill, I just have to smile.
The same thing goes for a wooden paper doll that I've had for so long I can't even remember when I got it. I absolutely remember how I got it though. My youngest sister Janice had taken a trip somewhere, again, I can't remember where. Anyway she went into this charming little rustic store, where she saw a display of little wooden "paper" dolls.

I have loved paper dolls my whole life. Janice knows that about me, which is what motivated her to get it for me.

I have also always loved making them. When I was a kid I was forever making them and building up their wardrobes to the point that there have probably never been better dressed paper dolls. My most recent paper doll making was about ten years ago for my youngest Courtney. One day I just got the urge and decided to make a series of dolls for her and her best friend Karleen to play with. They took them to school and played with them at recess. After a while several of the other fourth grade girls wanted to play with them too. So I made copies.
It makes me happy to remember those little dolls. I actually still have them and sometimes I bring them out and let Abbey, Lindsay, Alexandra and Lorelai play with them.

My main point here is, that i have a darling little wooden doll that my sister Janice got me years and years ago. I keep it in one of my drawers. I come across her quite often and each time I pull her out, I can't help but smile as I think of my sister getting her for me, "just because".

Another thing in one of my drawers, (i do actually have clothes in them as well. Really.) Is a Happy Meal, International, Dutch Barbie. I am part Dutch and I was thrilled to be able to get her. I almost missed out because she was one of the first distributed and by the time I knew there had been a "Dutch" Barbie, I was told that they were all out of that one. Lucky for me that I have a well developed sense of tenacity. It took a while but I finally snagged one at the McDonald's in Richland.

It's a Long Story.

Again, I've had her for so many years I can't even remember just how long it has been. I've even left her in her plastic wrapper, you know, just in case she's ever worth something? Which is totally moot at this point seeing as how i would NEVER part with her.

Last, but absolutely, not least, of my little treasures, and also the oldest, is a darling china, fat little pink and white piggy bank with the sweetest little wreath of flowers around her head. I got her at a present swap when I was seven years old and in Girl Scouts. As soon as she was opened by another girl it was instant love for me. I tried my hardest to get her when my turn came around.

And I did!

And then nasty little Nancy took her from me.

Ooh, I have never felt such white hot intense hatred towards another person as I did that day in my friend Janey's basement. I have mentioned before that my little Lorelai has that same hot temper that I had at that young age.
I did have enough grace to not haul off and slug her right in her nasty, smug, little face. But what I did do was get up and run upstairs and flop myself down on my friend Janey's couch and burst into a completely uncontrollable crying fit.
I don't remember which girl it was anymore, but one of the girls got it away from stupid Nancy.

Bless her sweet seven year old heart.

I heard footsteps coming upstairs, and I knew I was probably in for a major chastisement. Instead it was sweet little seven year old girl, who's name I can't remember and Janey's mom.
The little girl handed me the piggy bank.
For just a moment I didn't know if I was going to keep crying or if I would laugh.

Again, that is a detail that escapes me.

All I know is that the dusting powder that I had been booby prized with, went home with my sweet little seven year old savior. And the pink and white piggy bank with the wreath of flowers around her head went across the street to my house with me.

It hardly matters that my dear little "Piglet" has been broken three times over the years. Each time due to a naughty little brother.
(Don't worry Mike and Brian, I won't name names)
Each time I lovingly glued her back together. Wait, , , ,now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure that the third time, it was broken by my own child.
Donald always was too curious and inquisitive for his own good.

Today my little "Piglet" sits in a place of honor on top of my dresser. If Courtney didn't want to inherit her so bad I swear I would want her to be buried with me.

These things that I have talked about, for me, are the best kinds of things to keep.

I have so many small things that I really love. Most of them are items that someone going through my drawers would look at and never guess that those seemingly small, trivial, little possessions are of great importance to me.
And you know what little piece of wisdom I realize I have learned from all of this?
I, like most people, would put my family;
my dear husband Don, of 33 years;
My five wonderful children and my cherished son and daughter-in-law;
My five precious granddaughters;
Obviously, I put them ahead of anything else of importance in my life.

That certainly doesn't mean however that in case a fire, once I knew that my loved ones were safe and accounted for, that I wouldn't want to go back in and grab as many of my treasured items as I could.
Consequently, if I was to lose everything except my family I would be sad to have lost these few beloved items that mean so much to me.
The comfort would be, of course, that even if I was to lose them all, I would always have my memories of them.

As I sit here and write this up I just can't help but be thankful for the wisdom I have gained. I know and understand SO much more now at 52 than I would have ever thought possible at, say, 28.

I have absolutely no fear of getting old.

I know that the wrinkles will come, I can only assume that my really bad knees will get even worse. I will most likely lose a little more of my hearing and my eyesight. I may even find that I have no control over whether I fart or not.
Ya know what?
Big deal.
Bring on those years.
I can hardly wait!

side note; my next post will hopefully be pictures of the little treasures I have talked about here. I just need to get Lisa over here with her camera.

The coat that tried to eat me

2009-12-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

I needed a new coat. My others had gotten too big. So, a few weeks ago while shopping at my friendly neighborhood Kohls, (neighborhood is actually a bit of a stretch, it's roughly seven miles away) I suddenly realized that I needed a new coat.

The fact that the coats were all on sale for 50 % off was a pretty good reminder.

I started trying on. Eventually I found two that I really loved. One of them was a beautiful black wool coat that I fell in love with immediately. Then, wouldn't ya know, that I just happened to look up a few racks and saw coat number two. It was red with a really warm fur type lining. I had to have that coat. Hmmm.

What to do?

What to do?

Well, I did the only logical thing and got them both.

The black coat is my absolute favorite, so I started to wear it right away. The red coat comes in at a very close second, and, it's quite a lot warmer due to the "fur" lining.
This last week and a half has been really COLD. Yesterday for example was around 22 degrees but felt a lot colder when you factor in the Wind Chill.

Well Saturday, I needed to go to Fred Meyer. It was cold so red coat got her chance to prove her stuff. She did a great job at keeping me warm.

There was just one teeny tiny little problem.

The longer I wore her, the smaller she got.

Go ahead, laugh, mock.
I'm well aware of how bizarre that sounds.

But the truth remains that my new red coat started getting tighter and shorter (in the sleeves and shoulders that is) the longer I had it on.

It took me a while to really notice just what was going on.

Screeeeeeeech, I have to back up a bit and mention the first real sign of a problem. Funny how quickly things can be forgotten.

You see, a few days earlier I had worn her to Walmart. It wasn't too cold that day. It mostly just felt like a Red Coat Day to me. Under that red coat I was wearing a scoop necked sweater with elbow length sleeves. After about an hour things started to feel kind of weird. It took me a while to figure out why. I wanted to try on a few items and in the dressing room I discovered what was wrong. That coat had pulled the sweater I was wearing all the way off of my left shoulder. In fact the neck of my sweater was closer to my elbow than my face.

Weird.

Before I left the dressing room I made sure that my sweater was put back where it was meant to be. That red coat had other ideas. Within 15 minutes I could feel that my left shoulder was no longer covered.

Okay. I have established precedence here. Back to Saturday at Fred Meyer.
Again, it took me a while to figure out why my arms as well as armpits were all of a sudden feeling very tight. I looked down and saw my arms. The sweater I had on that day seemed to have grown in the length of the sleeves. they were about 2 inches longer than my hands. And to top it off, the coat sleeves were about 5 inches shorter than they had been when I had first put it on.

What the??????

I thought about taking the coat off and putting it back on, but I was afraid that with as tight as it had gotten I may not have been able to get it back on. Now this is important to understand. That coat fit me perfectly. It was loose enough that I could wear bulky sweaters underneath. The sleeves were just a little long, they hit around my knuckles. Not a problem for me. I'm used to sleeves being kinda long.

So you can imagine my horror to look down and realize that my coat was shrinking on me.
In fact when I got home, I couldn't even get it off it had gotten so tight. I had to have Don pull those sleeves off of me. That was the only way that silly coat was coming off.

Fast forward to Sunday.
When Donald, Lisa and the girls showed up for dinner, I just had to tell Lisa about my "Coat of Terrors". I knew she wouldn't believe me.
I mean would you?!?!

I didn't even completely believe it and I was the actual victim!

I decided a Show and Tell was in order. I put it on and did up the buttons. It took it a little bit but it started shrinking just as I knew it would.
The first noticeable thing of course were the sleeves of my sweater suddenly growing super long.

See Lisa! SEE?!?!

Well my little presentation had to be cut short.

A. I was really getting way too hot, and

B. I was making dinner.

An activity not exactly suitable to the wearing of coats.
Oh well, I thought. I'll have to wait for another day.

Yesterday.
I had to go over to Donald and Lisa's for something. I realized that I now had my perfect opportunity for Lisa to see my coat in action.

Plus it was really, really, cold.

On with Miss Red Coat. Out to the van. Out of the garage and onto the street. Wait, wait, wait, for the van to warm up. Carefully feeling for signs of coat shrinkage. Not yet. Not YET. Oh but I know you too well Red Coat.

You and I both know that you can't resist forever.

I arrive at Lisa's. Of course I am greeted by a happy little Lorelai. Elisabeth is on the floor. I get down and play with her. She is up on her hands and knees! She is also in complete "I love grandma" mode. Kisses and more kisses. Elisabeth loves giving kisses. She also loves being kissed.

All the while, no matter how awkward, I keep Miss Red ON.

Elisabeth's therapist shows up so I get ready to take off. I go to the bank to make a car payment. I almost head for home, but,

GUESS WHAT????
Red Coat has done her incredible shrinking act on me yet again!
I head right back to Lisa's. Therapy is still going on, but I know my dear Daughter-in-Law.

Lisa absolutely can NOT turn up a chance for a good Photo.

She takes pictures of me in my shrunk coat.

Tah Daaah!

YES!

Finally!

The photographic proof I needed!

Now they will HAVE to believe me.
So, to prove that I am not crazy. And also NOT Paranoid.
Here are pictures to prove that my coat comes alive and tries to squeeze me to death.

Here we see Miss Red Coat shortly after I put her on. See how innocent she looks.

Okay, here we see that she has started her nasty little shrinking fit. Trust me, it gets even worse, the longer I wear it.

Do you believe me now?

Oh. And since she is still my most favorite. And she does NOT shrink on me. And even though she may not be as warm as Miss Psycho Red coat. I still really love her. So, she gets her picture on this post too.

Clever Clever Me

2009-11-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I am so resourceful and clever that I even amaze myself. I'll let YOU be the judge here.

All I wanted was a nice little pair of Blue Shoes.

I say "nice" and "little" as in, I didn't want to pay over thirty dollars for them. In fact under ten would have been nice.
I have been searching the Internet trying to find a pair of dark blue shoes that
A. don't look orthopedic
B. aren't too dressy
C. aren't too casual
D. are flats
And
E. are CHEAP!

Wouldn't you think that with all of the Internet, that finding just the right shoes would have been a walk in the park?

HA! As if.

The other issue at hand is that I'm really irresponsible when it comes to sending things back. Even when they pay for it. I knew that this would most likely be a problem because I have a monster of a time finding shoes that not only fit, not only are comfortable, but that will also stay on my feet.
I honestly don't know why but with a lot of shoes, even though they might fit just fine, after the first step or two they will not stay on my heels.

It's like I take a step and the shoes don't.

I certainly can't keep putting my foot back into my shoes every two or three steps. Does anyone else have that problem?

Well, a few weeks ago, Payless Shoes teamed up with Oprah. For two days at the end of October, you could go to Oprah's web page and print out a coupon for 50% off everything in the store.
My daughter Heidi was the one who alerted me to it.

Thank you Heidi!

I got there an hour and a half before they closed. On the last day for the coupon. Things were sort of picked over. I did find a couple pairs of shoes, a nice purse, some socks and even a cute necklace though.

One of the pairs of shoes was a cute little black and white tweed number. For less than nine dollars even.
That was with the half off.
I wasn't entirely sure what I would wear them with at the time, I just thought they were cute and being half off made them even cuter.
Here is a picture of them.

Well, for the next few weeks I wore them only once. It just seemed like they didn't go with anything as well as some of my other shoes did. I started to feel like those sweet little black and white shoes were becoming the Elephant in my closet. I kept seeing them and feeling guilty for neglecting them but what could I do?

I certainly didn't want to take them back. How could I not keep them?

They had only cost me 8.50$.

This is when I started toying with the idea of somehow taking those nice little shoes and making them useful.

I couldn't help but notice all of the white on them. What is white mostly good for, I asked myself?

Why, to be colored any color you would want. I answered myself.

Hmmmm. Black and White shoes. A need for some dark blue shoes.

think think think think think

YES! I will color those little white sections BLUE!

Now for the

"Method"

I considered RIT dye.

Much too messy.

Also anything I have ever dyed has always bled onto everything else.

Not an attractive quality in a pair of shoes.

That's when I thought of my rather large collection of Sharpie Markers. Have you ever accidentally gotten sharpie marker on an item of clothing? Yeah? Just try and get it off.

If it won't come off when you accidentally get it on something then it certainly stands to reason that if you purposely put it on something it won't be going anywhere.

WHOOO HOOOO!

Problem solved.

Blue shoes coming UP!

I have to admit that it was hard to start. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I might just be ruining a perfectly good pair of shoes. That, of course, is the beauty of having a cheap pair of shoes that you've only worn once.

I mean, how bad could it be?

I started coloring. It was much easier than I had imagined it would be. Those shoes were practically begging for that color.

The only problem was that they started to look almost more purple than blue. The fact that I've also been after a nice pair of purple shoes didn't escape my attention. But NO! I was going to have blue shoes no matter what.

I finally decided to get my light blue marker and go over them with it as well.

You know? So as to increase the blueness?

It worked. That light blue added not only a little more blueness to those shoes but also a bit more depth and dimension.

Am I happy with the results?

Do dogs pee in the snow?

Yes I am HAPPY!

I now have me some lovely BLUE SHOES!

And I did it all myself.

So go ahead and color me HAPPY!

And now for the pictures

I've been thinking that some olive green shoes would be nice.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Do they make olive green sharpies?

To further the Controversy

2009-11-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

First of all, for this post to make any sense you will need to go to my daughter's blog here to read about this scandalous family happening of ours.
Be sure and read all the comments. They're actually the best part.

Go ahead. I promise to wait.

I have decided that since one of our family's most sacred recipes is "out" I might as well stoke the fire by publishing our very most private, never before heard of by anyone outside of the family, secret, no make that super secret, handed down from mother to daughter for more years than anyone can remember, secretest of secret, family recipes.

You can only read the recipe if you promise, on all that you hold sacred and dear, to never, NEVER, ever, even on pain of death, share it with anyone else.

Okay. I realize I am taking my very life in my hands here. I figure though that it is high time that we share this most secret recipe with the rest of the world.

It's really the only decent thing to do.
Drum roll please.
Tataatatatatatatatatatatatatatttttaaaaatttttaaaatttttt

The super secret Brinkerhoff (my maiden name) Family recipe never to be shared with anyone outside of the family. . . . . . . .

You realize, that I will probably lose my rights to the family cookbook after this shameful betrayal.

***************Cinnamon Sugar*****************

1cup sugar

1 T cinnamon

Works best with a food processor. If you don't have one a bowl and spoon will do in a pinch.

CAREFULLY measure out ONE cup of sugar. Absolutely must be ONE cup. Not one cup and one half teaspoon. Not one cup minus a fourth of a teaspoon. EXACTLY ONE CUP.
Just as carefully measure out one tablespoon of cinnamon. Same stringent rules apply as for the sugar.

Now this is where it gets really tricky.

With the utmost of care, pour the sugar into food processor making sure to not let even one grain fall on the counter. As stated earlier, in case of no food processor a bowl may be used.

(Results not guaranteed with this method however.)
With equal care pour in the one tablespoon of sugar.
Now, turn on and process for exactly one minute and twelve seconds. If doing by hand set timer to one minute, twelve seconds, and stir carefully so as not to cause any to fly out of the bowl.

If you have followed these instruction to the letter hopefully you will have a successful batch of Cinnamon sugar.
I realize that with a recipe of this extreme difficulty that it sometimes can take years to perfect your technique. Don't be discouraged. Keep at it and one day you will be able to make a cinnamon sugar that even great, great, great, great, (twice removed) aunt Bertha would be proud to call her own.

Suggested uses for cinnamon sugar:

Sprinkle on toast after buttering.

Sprinkle over any baked apple recipe.

This is also the secret ingredient for another super, super, secret family recipe called Cinnamon Rolls. I don't dare mention anything more about what those are however. I do have to live with these people in my family you know.

Well, I have risked quite a lot to sneak this secret recipe out of the family recipe vault. I'm sorry for the level of difficulty, and I most sincerely hope that you can master it and try for yourself the heavenly delights of
Cinnamon sugar

Shhhhhhhh, you didn't hear it from me.

Oooops. Thank you little brother for pointing out my mistake here. I said to put in a Tablespoon of sugar. I meant cinammon of course. I think that my inate fear of the atrocity I was committing must have overcome me. So take away that extra tablespoon of sugar and make it cinammon.

Oh NOOOOO!
I think I hear them coming!

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Three Movie Reviews. Caution! May be Extra Long.

2009-11-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be fun to give a few movie reviews for my most recently seen films. These are all movies that I saw with Shawn. For the most part I would have to say that he enjoyed all three of them,
but only one of them earned his highest stamp of approval.
That would involve him telling me, as we walk out of the theater, that he wants to get it on DVD.

First up would be;

I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this film. I would love to be able to say that this was a beloved childhood book for me, but it really wasn't.

According to the stats, it was written in 1963, which would have put me at six years old. I have no memory of it at that age though. I don't think I was even aware of it until my little brother brought it home from his elementary school library. I must have been around 15. I thought it was a pretty cool little book, but nothing too remarkable.

My point here, is that I came to the movie without any preconceived notions.
I liked the movie. I even feel that it should be seen on the big screen. Not just as a rental.
I wanted to love it but didn't. I did however fall in love with Max Records.He's the boy who plays Max in the movie.

I think this kid could very well be the next Dakota Fanning.

First of all, he is an absolutely beautiful child. And as for his acting skills, he was incredible. His performance was so natural and real that it was easy to forget that you were watching a movie. He was that spot on perfect. His "Max" was completely believable as a rambunctious but also troubled little boy. You weren't supposed to hate him. And I didn't. Maybe because I have raised three boys myself, I could see his vulnerability and confusion at being the youngest in a somewhat chaotic environment. He wasn't a bad child by any stretch of the imagination.

He simply was part of a world where he had no clearly defined place.

Max ends up traveling to a new world where he finds himself in the same predicament.

The community of Wild Things turns out to be as much a place of disorder and confusion as Max's real world had been

With one big difference.
In this world, he is able to take control and establish himself as the leader and rule maker.

For a while at least.

As he becomes the one responsible for order and stability Max starts to realize how hard life is for the person in charge.
He learns that, being the leader, becomes a matter of employing one big bluff after another. His new friends/dependants the "Wild Things" end up wanting the same things from him that he had previously expected from his mother and sister. Things that he doesn't know how to give them. The more he tries to give his new "subjects" what he thinks they want, the more dissatisfied and discontent they become with him.
They even suggest that destroying him (death by being eaten), if he can't satisfy their expectations, is by no means out of the question.

The film is visually quite stunning. His new world seems to have an unending array of different environments and climates.

The story, what there is of it, is neither easy or hard to follow.
It just "is".
It turned out to be, for me at least, one of those rare, odd, movies that I find it hard to have a definite opinion on. However I can say that, I liked the originality of it. I thought the acting was superb. The "Wild Things" which the Jim Henson people get the credit for bringing to life, were fun to watch.
All in all, I think the best recommendation I can give it is this; If you have a nice, vivid, unlimited imagination, then you will most likely find something about it to like. And, even if you decide you don't like it, you will most likely at least "understand" it.
On the other hand, if you prefer your movies straight up, with not a hint of ambiguity, and very little plot to speak of, then you might want to miss this one.

Next up;

No hidden meaning or agenda to this movie. Just a lot of good sticky, messy and stinky fun. I doubt I will ever watch it a second time, even if I do buy it for Shawn when it comes out.

Yes this is the one he liked best.

It's a cute story about a young man trying to find acceptance from his peers. He is an inventer, who comes up with a way to have food of all kinds fall from the sky.

Like if the army's MRE's were to breed with a well loved restaurant, and then turn into weather.

As can be expected, things go from wonderful to sketchy to world wide devistation in less time than it would take to eat even a fraction of one of those heaven sent meals.

And of course, things look quite desperate and hopeless for a while. In the end though, everything works out well, our hero ends up with the girl, a huge mound of orange jello is involved, and he goes on to invent for another day.

This really was a fun and colorful movie.

I loved the "IceCream, Snow Day".
To sum it all up, there were lots of colors, lots of action, lots of fun characters. Along with an easy to follow story. A really good family film that even the youngest children should enjoy.

And last but not least;

This one is my favorite of the three. Shawn? Not so much. I really enjoyed every minute of this movie.
It told a good story.
I loved the look of it as well. Very clean looking animation. I won't get too far into the story for two good reasons.
1) This post is already going to be too long.
and
2) The story is the movie, more or less. It's more fun to discover it on your own than to hear about it through the third person.

One quick note here:
I wouldn't take young children to see it.

The young hero Toby, is killed rather early on. Shawn was quite disturbed by his death. I think it kind of tainted the rest of the movie for him. Without going into details a new "Toby" is created and the movie is more or less "his" story.
At times it's a little predictable. But, at least in my opinion, it didn't ruin things one bit. There are definitly some political themes running through the story as well. Nothing too controversial. Just enough to get your attention.
The whole matter of what makes up humanity, an idea that has seen the light of day in several books, plays, TV shows, and more than a few other movies, is explored.
Again, nothing earth shattering here. Just a nice little film, with a nice little moral, told in a completely non-threatening, but nicely colorful way.

That is it for my movie reviews. There are quite a few other movies I expect to go see soon.
"The Men who Stare at Goats"
"The Vampire's Assistant" (might be too late, have to check)
"Disney's Christmas Carol"
"Planet 51"
"The Blind Side"
And, after all of the ridiculous furur has died down,
"New Moon"
What films have you seen (and liked or not).
And which ones are you looking forward to?
I'd love to hear.

Tuesday Afternoon Joy!

2009-11-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening, during dinner, Lisa reminded me of Alexandra's violin performance coming up at her school's Veteran's Day assembly on Tuesday.
Of course I wanted to be there.

Yesterday morning however, I was actually stupid enough to consider cancelling. I don't need to go into any of the reasons why.

Suffice to say that I have been extremely stressed about a couple of things as of late, and I wasn't sure of my ability to juggle my schedule to be there on time.

Fortunately cooler heads prevailed, (mine) and I realized just how foolish of me it would be to miss something as special as my dear granddaughter's first non-church, public violin performance.

Of course I went. And of course Donald and Lisa saved me a seat. We were all there. Me, Donald, Lisa, Lorelai and Elisabeth.

We were richly rewarded.

The assembly was put on by the First and Fourth grades. First up was a group of the Fourth Graders playing the Xylophones. It had a lovely Caribbean flavor and was enjoyed by all.

After the Xylophones the rest of the children on stage started in singing a few Patriotic songs.

It was wonderful to hear yet another generation of children singing those beloved songs. I mean, now a days you just never know.

You know?

Alexandra's big part came during "My Country Tis of Thee". The children sang verses one and two. Verse three was Lex playing her violin solo.

She was incredible!

We couldn't have possibly been any prouder of our sweet talented girl.

I mentioned to Lisa how shocking it must have been to all of the other parents. After all, I think we most know what to expect when you have a performance of a First grader playing her violin.

You certainly wouldn't expect to hear beautiful music without a single mistake.

Or screech.

Yet that is exactly what we were all treated to. I doubt a High Schooler could have done better.

Of course Lisa, the preserver of all family happenings was video taping the entire performance.
I can't express enough how much I enjoyed the entire assembly.
All in all the entire performance was beyond wonderful.I felt privileged to be there. It was an afternoon that I shall not soon forget.

I realize that yesterday afternoon, life as usual went on throughout the country. No doubt crimes were being committed. People were lied to. Others were cheated.
A memorial service was held for several military personnel, who had been viciously murdered by a trusted Doctor.
There were many bad things being done and
sadly,
not enough people around to care enough to try to stop them. There was no short of misery and despair.

But. . . . . .

In Kennewick Washington
inside the gym of Hawthorne Elementary School
from 2:20PM to 2:50PM
Pacific Standard Time
for a small group of parents, teachers and children. . . . .

All was right with America.

Lisa has put the video here on my post she took of Alexandra playing her violin. Enjoy.

She is also letting me use all the same pictures in my post that she took of the events and is also using in her post.

The evolution of a favorite album

2009-11-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

As with most people I love listening to music.

I like a wide range of musical styles.

Much more now than when I was younger.

I love the music of the 70's. Which is to be expected of course, seeing as those were the years I was a teenager and also a young bride.

Over the years I have learned to love a far greater range of music than I would have ever thought possible when I was younger.

In fact, thanks to my dad (long story) I have even learned to like quite a lot of Country music.

I don't like it well enough to actually listen to the Country stations on the radio.

I could listen for an hour and hear maybe only one song that I like.

I really, really like Toby Keith.

In fact, when his new album came out a few weeks ago and because Target was selling it that first week for under eight bucks, I went in and bought it without having heard a single song on it.

It payed off. I love the entire CD.

Enough rambling background info. This post does have a purpose.

Quite a few years ago, I kept hearing this one song. I found out that it was "I'm not Okay" by a group with, what I thought, and still think ,had a really cool name.

My Chemical Romance.

I can't explain just why, but for some reason their name really appealed to me.

I feel the same way about the band Death Cab for Cutie.

How cool is that for a band name.

Not too long after falling in love with "I'm not Okay" I heard their song "Helena".

That song just blows me away, I love it so.

Lucky for me I have kids who also like music.

Not only that, but they know far more about bands like My Chemical Romance than I ever would.

My oldest daughter Heidi, told me once, that if I liked those two songs then I should listen to more of their music. She told me about her favorite My Chemical Romance album, called The Black Parade.

I skimmed through it briefly and just wasn't impressed. It didn't sound anything to me like they were the ones who had been responsible for Helena and I'm not Okay.

I told Heidi, sorry but I just didn't like it.

I had really wanted to like it. Especially when I saw the actual CD and all of the cool artwork on it. It's dark and rather creepy, but, fun and playful too.

This all happened a few years ago.

During this time Heidi kept telling me to give it a chance. She seemed to know that it was something I would enjoy.

A couple weeks ago I decided that I was going to find out once and for all, if I liked Black Parade. I felt like if they had two songs that I really loved (which aren't on Black Parade, just so you know) that there had to be a chance that I would enjoy more of their music.

I asked my son Kelly if he had it and he did. And lucky for me, he never played it because it was on his MP3 player.

I took it and went downstairs to listen to it.

I was determined to give it a fair shot.

I like to listen to music while I sew. That is why my stereo is in my sewing room.

I put it in my stereo and hit play.

Ooooohhhh. Uuuggghhh. All I seemed to hear was NOISE. It didn't seem to even have any discernible melody to any of the songs.

I had heard the title song Welcome to the Black Parade a few times previously.

By the time it played, (track 5 just so you know) it was a relief to hear something familiar.

It also made me think.

I realized that yes, I had heard the song a few times already. But, it had never grabbed me. I had simply put up with it to humor Heidi.

Hmmm.

If I kind of liked it now, maybe all was not lost. Perhaps if I listened to the entire album enough times the rest of the songs would start to sound good.

This is not without precedence.

There aren't all that many songs that I like the first time I hear them. And oddly enough, some of the songs that I love the first time I hear them seem to lose some of their magic for me if I listen to them too often. Where as, the songs that, gradually, over time, I learn to love, stay with me forever.

Weird? Yeah, probably. But it's how it is for me.

Well, first time listening to the entire CD. Not a fan. But I did notice there were a few on there that I had kind of enjoyed.

I left it for that day.

Next day.

I listened to it again.

Strange thing.

I started to actually hear real music instead of just noise.

Track 5, Welcome to the Black Parade.

Did I actually not like this song before?

How could that be. It's a great song.

Meanwhile,

thanks to continued familiarity,

some of the other tracks are starting to sound pretty good as well.

This is the point when I deliberately don't listen to it for several days.

I have found that if I do this, that, the next time I listen, it starts to sound more familiar to me and I find myself looking forward to several of the songs I had formerly not liked.

This is usually the point when I find out if I really do like it or not.

Some albums, by this time,

I know for definitely sure that I don't like it and I will probably never like it.

As for My Chemical Romance's Black Parade,

I am starting to really like it a lot!

In fact I find myself having one or two of the songs running through my head most of the time.

I find myself taking it out to the car so I can listen to it more.

I realize that I'm even learning the lyrics.

And all of a sudden, the biggest realization of all.

I LOVE this CD!

How could I ever have thought it was nothing more than a bunch of noise. How on earth had I missed the intricate timing, intelligence and beauty of each song.

Each time I listen, I seem to notice more and more artistry and vision. What at first seemed like a vain attempt at a concept album, now falls into place with such precision and perfection, that I hear a bit of the sublime in each song.

There are layers upon layers of content.

It makes me feel as though I'm listening to a great jig-saw puzzle of sound who's pieces are effortlessly finding each other and coming together to form a whole picture.

In short, I realize that I am listening to pure genius.

And just like that, I have a new favorite.

I can't guarantee that you would find the beauty in this album like I have. Different things speak to different people.

But, if you haven't already, it just might be worth your time to snag yourself a copy, (chances are you know someone who has a copy you could borrow) and give it a chance like I did.

You just might find yourself a new favorite as well.

After all, you just never really know, do you?