Ho Hum

In talking with dd#3 just a little while ago, I came to the realization that I haven't posted anything here in almost a month. So just to reassure my 3 readers that I am still alive and well, let me just give a brief run-through of the past month.

1. Home: Made it home from Salt Lake okay. I stopped in La Grande on the way home, to break up the trip and to do some more research. Sunday night as I was getting ready to organize what I wanted to look for at the Pierce Library at EOU, I changed my mind and decided to look for a few graves instead. My "baby" brother, who would actually have been 7 years older than me had he lived but died at 2 or 3 days old, was buried in the Hillcrest cemetery in La Grande. A great-great uncle & aunt were also buried there. To make a long story short, I discovered that my brother did not have a tombstone. Have talked with a few members of the family about getting one for him, that may be a future event.

2. Work work WORK! The night I left La Grande, I got an email that one (or so I thought) of the real estate files I put online was ready for download. I had a good, fast connection, so downloaded my book that night. Unfortunately, I didn't read the email, just the subject line, or I would have gotten the news before I got home. Instead of doing two Home Source magazines, I was getting to do all FIVE of them. Sigh. So much for personal time. But between the two jobs, I made over $900 in October.

3. Pumpkin Party. This has been an annual tradition since 1995. Our whole family (or as many as will or can come), gathers at dd#2's house, armed with a pumpkin to carve and whatever potluck dish we've been asked to bring. Costumes are optional. Usually the little kids will dress in costumes, sometimes the grown-ups do too. We had this year's event on the 27th. It went pretty well. Two new "additions" to the group this year was dd#4's fiance, and dd#5's boyfriend. The boyfriend hadn't met too many of our extended family yet, so this was a first for them & for him. He's still dating dd#5, so apparently we didn't scare him too badly.

4. Disappearing/reappearing quarter. I volunteer at my local genealogy society library twice a month as a librarian. Yesterday when I got there, my partner, Larry, mentioned that he was off a quarter and would I see if I could find it. I pulled the quarters out of their space in the cash box and counted them. I came up with 15 quarters, which is what he had come up with, but was one short from the previous day's count. He looked in the file box drawer about that time, and there the rascally little quarter was--it had somehow escaped the cash box and was sitting there in the drawer, waiting to be discovered. Six hours later, when we counted the cash again to be sure we balanced (my turn this time), I only counted 15 quarters. I turned to Larry to ask him if he had put that quarter in the section reserved for quarters, and when I turned back to the money, it was sitting in its space, waiting to be discovered. I should have called today's crew to see if they still had problems with this mischevious quarter.

So we are now into November. Halloween is over, except for the leftover candy. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and following that it will be Christmas. Let's see what the rest of the month brings.

Dining At Church Headquarters

For the past two days I have eaten lunch at the Church's employee cafeteria. This place is HUGE! There are a lot of food choices, including several main dishes as well as soup, a "build your own" sandwich bar, salads, desserts, and more. It's in the basement of the Church Office Building. It's normally only open to employees, but they give guest tickets at the Family History Library for the patrons, so we genealogy researchers mingle with those nicely suited and dressed Church employees.

I have never seen so many suits in one place at one time. There's obviously a dress code if you work for the Church, unless you are a custodian, groundskeeper, maintenance person, etc. Most of the men wear black or very dark suits, although there are a few lighter-toned suits, and some men in slacks, white shirts and ties. The women are very neatly dressed in dresses or skirts and sweaters. Since I have a hard time finding dresses I like back home, perhaps I should take in some shopping here in Salt Lake, because it's obvious these women are buying dresses here.

But back to the food! Yesterday I had a sloppy joe and some yummy potato salad for lunch. Great tasting food! Today I had burritos and seafood salad. I'll be going back tomorrow, but I don't know what's on the menu. The food is good, there are plenty of choices, including desserts and salads and beverages. They do know how to eat at the Church's employee cafeteria.

Sunday--On to Salt Lake

I left La Grande shortly after 8 a.m., weather was cloudy but the forecast was for rain. Fortunately it wasn't long but the sun came out, and I didn't experience any of the wet stuff. The drive was fairly uneventful. I stopped of course, every so often at a rest stop, and naturally had to stop for gas once as well. Made it to a few miles before Twin Falls when I decided I needed a bite to eat and so did the car. There wasn't much choice for food, so I ended up with a sub-par corn dog, my kickapoo joy juice (pepsi), and nibbling on Chex mix.
The trip wasn't bad at all. I arrived in Salt lake about 5 MDT (8 hour trip), and got out my directions to the hotel. They appeared to be pretty simple, but then I've been known to make simple pretty complicated. Needless to say, after a tour of the downtown area, including the capital building, I found the hotel. Checked in, unpacked, and crashed. On to Monday!

My Kitchen Window

For years I have decorated my kitchen window for Christmas. Why not? I spend a lot of time there, I should have something nice and fun to look at it too. We usually decorate pretty heavily anyway, for Christmas, and the kitchen deserves its Christmas look as well. Right after Thanksgiving, when the rest of the Christmas decorations come out of storage, I find the multi-colored string of Christmas lights that I hang to frame my kitchen window. Out comes the snow made from batting, which is taped to the window sill (for obvious reasons). We find the ceramic (or whatever they're made from) village pieces that my daughters and I have painted through the years and arrange them on the "snow." Sometimes I can even find the Christmas-y window clings too. The Christmas dishes, glasses and mugs also come out at this time.

Last February or so, as I was getting ready to take down the kitchen window decorations (they weren't screaming CHRISTMAS so much as WINTER, and the snow on the window sill was pretty much all the snow we had seen that winter), I got the idea to decorate my kitchen window for all seasons. After all, I still spent a lot of time here all year round--not just at Christmas--and it would be nice to look at something pretty and fun all year round, not just at Christmas. So off I went to my "not-so-local" craft stores to look for things to decorate for Spring/St. Patricks day/Easter.

The multi-colored lights were replaced with white ones, only because I couldn't find pastel colored lights. The snow came off the window sill and I replaced it with pale green glass stones (I think they're used for flower arranging or something). I bought two smallish bouquets of spring flowers--daffodils and some kind of blue flowers that I can't remember the name of--and two bud vases to hold them, placing those on each side of the window. I have some baby animal small statues which I placed on the window sill, and added green top hats and coins for St. Patricks day and for Easter some little bunnies and other Easter-type statues.

For Summer/4th of July I still had to stick with the white lights, since no one was selling red or blue ones yet. The flowers were replaced with sprays of flags and shooting starts that I stuck into the vases. The pale stones were replaced by blue ones. I found a garland of stars to hang with the lights, to kind of give more color to the window than what the white lights afforded. I never did get around to the summer theme I wanted to do, which was a beach theme, with sea shells replacing the blue stones and some more summery flowers. I put the Spring flowers back in the vases, but we still looked pretty 4th of July-ish.

Today I decided it was time to decorate for Fall. Down came the white lights, the garland (not sure why I left that up), the flowers, the blue stones, and I was back to a bare window. Back to my "not-so-local" JoAnn Fabrics, this time I came home with almost everything I needed in one trip. Found orange sunflowers to go into the vases, although I should have bought another vase since one of them is pale blue. Found orange glass stones to replace the blue ones. Bought a scarecrow statue that sits on the window sill. And I found ORANGE lights to replace the white ones (yipee)! While there I noticed the Christmas decorations being put out, so I will be buying a string of both red AND blue lights soon.

Oh, and the piece de resistance? A sign to hang from the hook above the sink. It reads "The Witch Is In."

I put the baby animal statues back in the window for now, but I will be making a trip to the Dollar store soon for some other statues to add to the mix. Other than (hopefully) finding pastel lights and buying the red and blue ones I saw, I should be ready for the coming year.

If You Can't Say Something Nice......

I've recently experienced several instances of people using unkind words to belittle and otherwise make another person feel less than valued. It caused me to think about how our words can either lift another person up, or tear him down. These experiences were all while being online, in emails and in blogs. Some experiences were politically based, while enduring yet another election for the Advisory Board of the USGenWeb Project, the world's first Internet source for free genealogy records in the United States. Since I was elected to a two-year position on the Board last year, I didn't have to go through what some of the candidates did who were running for office this year. This year was a particularly nasty year for politics in the USGenWeb Project. The other instances are related to a friend's blog space, and comments left by well-meaning people who thought they were offering constructive criticism. I guess. In retrospect, I'm not sure what they thought they were doing. Maybe they were only being mean.

Sometimes even the most chicken-hearted of us will gather immense courage and tell others what we think of them, their thoughts, their lives and anything else we can think of--mostly non-complimentary--in an email or as a comment to a blog. Most of us would NEVER dream of saying these things to someone's face, but we will let fly with the most uncomplimentary and vicious commentary we can dream up when it's done in writing and on the 'web. Whether spoken or written, words can uplift, and words can hurt.

I seem to have been raised by two rules: The Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), and Thumper's Rule: "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say nuthin' at all!" For those who have never seen Walt Disney's "Bambi"--don't walk--run to your nearest video store and rent it, especially if you are one who finds it difficult to hold your tongue. I try to treat other people in the same way I would like to be treated. I'm not perfect, but the important thing is that I am trying. Are you?

In our Church's April 2007 General Conference, one of my most well-remembered talks was by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who gave a talk entitled "The Tongue of Angels." For anyone reading this who is of the LDS faith, you can read this talk in the May 2007 Ensign or online (whether LDS or not) at LDS.org. Here are a few of thoughts from his talk that struck home with me:
"The voice that bears profound testimony, utters fervent prayer, and sings the hymns of Zion, can be the same voice that berates and criticizes, embarrasses and demeans, inflicts pain and destroys the spirit of oneself and of others in the process." Another quote, which I believe comes from James: "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing."

From Paul: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good...[and] edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God....Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you...And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

And finally, from Elder Holland: "Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity, the three great Christiam imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail."

I'm sure the people of whom I speak were either caught up in the heat of the moment, or had taken leave of their senses. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to have been spoken of the way these individuals were. A great deal of damage was probably done to these individuals' psyches. Many of us struggle with self-esteem issues at best, and to have to read emails and other messages that are not uplifting, does just the opposite. My advice--and I've lived long enough on this earth now that I am of the generation who can freely and without give advice--is pure and simple. There is no need to dash of a nasty comment to someone, whether in person or an email. Think before you speak or write. If what you have to say is uplifting and something that you would enjoy receiving in an email or whatever, then go ahead and say it or write it. BUT, if what you are about to say would be something that would be hurtful to you if you received it, then......

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ................... OR SEW YOUR FINGERS TO YOUR PANTS!

Family Reunion

A little over a week ago, dh & I went to a family reunion of sorts, at "Uncle Bill's" house. In an earlier post I talked about his death, and a bit about his life. This reunion was a gathering of Bill's friends and family, to talk about his life and reminisce for a while. All 5 of his children were there. It's been a long time since we've seen some of them. One of his sons distanced himself from his family many years ago, another one just has been too busy with his job as a truck driver to get away very often. Still, it was a good visit. We now have addresses and phone numbers for all our nieces and nephews, we know where they are, and hopefully we will keep in better touch over the next few years than we have in the past.

If nothing else, a Christmas card, or birthday cards if I can find all their birthdays.

Uncle Bill

On Monday, we learned that dh's oldest brother, Bill, had passed away the day before. To our kids, he was simply "Uncle Bill." It had been years since we had done anything to speak of with "Uncle Bill." Our three younger children have probably only met him once or twice in their young lives. The three older ones may have some distant memories of him and his family. In our younger days, we used to do quite a bit with "Uncle Bill" and "Aunt Emmie." After our return from Seattle in 1985, our relationship was never quite the same.

To me, "Uncle Bill" was the epitome of the quote we've probably all seen that reads, "Some people's only purpose in life is to serve as a bad example." That would be Uncle Bill's life, in a nutshell. Born in 1940, the second child and oldest son of my in-law's, he had such potential. He was a talented mechanic who could fix anything with a motor. He loved gardening, and after he moved to a home with acreage, always planted a huge garden that was the envy of most of us. He shared his produce with us many times, and undoubtedly other friends and relatives as well. And he loved fishing, both from a boat as well as from land. With all these wonderful talents and qualities, why do I think of his life as just a bad example? Read on!

Uncle Bill had one vice that probably killed him--alcohol! Always a heavy drinker, this seemed to get worse after Aunt Emmie died in 1993. He would begin his drinking day first thing in the morning and didn't quit until bedtime. My dh learned that if he wanted a decent coversation with his oldest brother, he needed to call him early in the morning before the booze got too heavy a stranglehold on him and ruined him for the day. It was something that he just seemed to never be able to overcome. It cut short his life and made life miserable for those who knew and loved him. He was never able to reach his full potential because of this affliction.

Alcoholism runs in this family. Aunt Sandy (dh's sister) told me once that their Norwegian-born grandmother rushed out to the bars just as soon as she could following the birth of her first child. When I heard this story, I got the impression that this was the reason their grandfather deserted his family when my father-in-law was a small child. Raised a Quaker, "Grandpa Lester" probably didn't know how to deal with this except to leave. She also told us that "Uncle Ben," dh's uncle & father-in-law's younger brother, was an alcoholic as well. And the story my father-in-law told of meeting the LDS missionaries with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other, made me think that he may have been on his way down that path as well. When he embraced the gospel, he quit these bad habits.

We all have the opportunity to change. If we have bad habits or traints that are detrimental to our character, we can change them. This is one of the joys of life, and a great principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not locked into the things that are not good. I have seen examples of change in people around me, those I know only casually as well as those close to me. I am thankful for this principle.

As for Uncle Bill, I am sure he will be constantly reminded of the errors he made in this life. I found it interesting that as we told each of our older children of his passing, they all said, in essence, "I'll bet he's getting quite a lecture from Grandma Nora." I believe that we can still change in the next life. I hope so, because I know when I die I will still be far from perfect.

Uncle Bill, I am sure that when we meet you in the next life, you will be a better person. While I'm not ready for that life yet, I look forward to meeting you there, when the time comes.

Colorado Trip--Update

The best-laid plans of mice and men..................

I had fully intended to begin updating our Colorado trip last Friday, but as luck would have it, our WIFI connection at the motel was non-existant. Every time a big SUV parked in the spot next to ours, we'd lose the connection. So, my good intentions went down the drain.

We did make it home just fine, a nicer trip than the going one because we got smart and decided to spend the night in Ogden rather than drive straight home. So we got home around 7:30 p.m. Sunday night in much better shape than we would have otherwise.

And really, I will post more on the rest of the trip in the next few days.

Colorado Bound

I had intended to make this a travelog of sorts, detailing our trip to Colorado Springs to visit family, including our trip and other things we've done. However, wifi at the motel we're staying at has been less than ideal, so wasn't able to do what I wanted. So I will try to catch up here as I can, since we're leaving to go home in just a little more than a day. Stay tuned for more tomorrow! I plan to cover the journey and first day, wireless connection permitting.

The Parable of the Popcorn Popper

Once upon a time, in a city far to the north, lived a family, not a large family, not a small one either. There was a mother, a father and three little girls. They were happy in their home to the north.

One day, as often happens to young families, they found themselves a few days away from payday, with only a small amount of money left to get them through until more money arrived. There wasn't enough to do anything to speak of. Certainly not enough for food for very many days, although the family was fortunate that there was enough food in their cupboards to get them through until the aforesaid payday, if necessary.

The father and mother went to the grocery store, to get a few things they needed. They looked at the small amount of money in their hand so they could carefully decide how best to spend their money. As they went down the aisles of the grocery
store, something caught their eye!

What is this? Why, it is a small appliance most marvelous to behold! It's a.......................popcorn popper. Not just an ordinary popcorn popper, it's an air popper. A most marvelous invention, and one that would be much used by this little family.

Why, look! The price is only $14! Do you think............?

Carefully counting the money they had in hand, they realized they had enough to cover the purchase of the popcorn popper, including sales tax. Looking at the few items of food they could have purchased, and comparing it to this marvelous
appliance, a decision was made!

Mother and Father came home, triumphantly bringing their purchase. The young girls wondered why their parents seemed to be so exuberant about buying a few groceries with the pittance they had in hand. Out of the sack came their purchase:

THE POPCORN POPPER! THE SHARPEST LOOKING, YELLOW & WHITE AIR POPPER that $14 plus tax could buy!

The girls were ecstatic! They rinsed off the parts that could be rinsed, set it on the counter, pulled out the popcorn and following manufacturers directions, proceeded to experiment with their new toy. A wonderful smell soon filled the house, and the young girls and their parents settled down with bowls full of hot-buttered popcorn, possibly the best hot buttered popcorn they had ever tasted, with the possible exception of what is available in movie theaters.

To this day this family still remembers the popcorn popper mom & dad bought with the last of their money. They enjoyed many years of great popcorn made from this popper. And they remember how the last money they would see for several days was spent on this popcorn popper. And every time this family would get down to their last few dollars before the next payday, someone would mention this marvelous popcorn popper. And perhaps they would go out and spend the last of their money on something as frivolous as that popcorn popper.

------------------------------------------------------------

Addendum:

Many years have passed since we purchased that popcorn popper back in Seattle in the late 1970's. We've added three more children to our family, and the original air popper was replaced several years ago by a similar model bought at a garage sale. The original air popper served us well for many years. And we notice that whenever we are low on money, or many of our now-grown children for that matter, we usually spend it on something that isn't vital. All in memory of our marvelous air
popcorn popper!

"All You Can Eat"

Why is it that when you go to a buffet restaurant, you feel obligated to stuff yourself silly to get the most for your money????? We certainly don't order another meal when we're eating at a sit-down restaurant, why do we feel it necessary to eat two (or more) meals at one sitting at a buffet?

Saturday night we went to our local Hometown Buffet for dinner with my brother & his wife, to celebrate my dh's impending doom-er-birthday. The cost was something like $10.89 per person, which is pretty cheap for a dinner if you've eaten at a regular sit-down restaurant lately and noticed their prices. There is a LOT of food to choose from. I can fill up on the salad bar and not have room for the regular part of the meal if I'm not careful, but this time I limited myself to a helping of tossed salad and seafood salad. And the choices for entrees and side dishes is seemingly endless. I've watched the same people walk by with plate after plate of food and wonder where they put it. And how do they feel when they're done?

Now if you eat at a regular restaurant, their portions are usually generous too, but you don't have that variety of dishes to choose from. You spend the same or even more, depending on where you eat. One benefit of of a sit-down restaurant is that you can take home your leftovers--something that isn't allowed at a buffet. But you usually stop before you're too full, and at least for us, we don't order a dessert with our meal.

Maybe that's why we eat until we're stuffed to the gills. We can't take home the leftovers, so we feel obligated to eat everything in sight. It is going to take some serious control to limit ourselves to just what fills us comfortably, and leave some of those other dishes to try at another time. Hubby & I usually walk/waddle out of there feeling physically ill because we've overeaten. And three hours later, when sister-in-law says, "Are you ready for dessert?" we usually aren't. But we eat it anyway, and regret it for the rest of the evening and even into the next day.

So if you decide to eat at your local buffet restaurant, here are some key points to remember:

1. Stop before you're full. You've already gotten your money's worth with the salad bar and first plate of food, no need to try every dish. Save something for your next visit.

2. Eat dessert first. One of our daughters will select a couple of tasty-looking desserts and eat those before she embarks on the rest of the menu. She says she never has room for dessert at the end. This is her way of making sure she gets her just desserts, too.

3. We've never tried it, but hubby threatens to wear a jacket with plastic-lined pockets for leftovers. If you're daring enough, give this a shot. I don't know what they'd do to you if you got caught, though.

I'm still waiting for the wisdom they say comes with age. At least at our local buffet restaurant, I'm not seeing it yet. Maybe next time..........

Roxanne

We lost our old cat today. Roxanne was about 16 years old, maybe older. She came to live with us when my #2 daughter moved back home not too long before she was married. Roxanne's early years weren't very good. As long as dd (short for dear daughter) was there, she got good care, but there was a brief period of time when dd moved home and when she discovered Roxanne wasn't getting fed by ex-roommate. Dd brought a skinny, emaciated Roxanne, along with 4 kittens, home to live with us. To make a long story short, we did eventually fatten her up some, but she was always on the small side.

Roxanne was a huntress. She had to be for those weeks when she was taking care of kittens and not being fed regularly. She caught birds, mice, and even a snake once. She usually left them on the patio step for our approval. Nothing like opening the patio door drapes to find a dead critter laying on the step. And just a couple of short years ago she was still hunting and being successful at it. We found several rats laid out on the patio too, which wasn't a pleasant sight by any means.

Roxanne was also very nimble. When we had our funky decorative fencing in the front of the house by the walkway, she would jump up on the post and then jump onto the roof. One of her favorite roosting places was on the roof over the garage, under an eave. She was shot by a bb-gun once, probably while sitting on the roof. When she wanted down she usually jumped back down onto the fence post, or sometimes our van if it was parked close enough to the roof overhang. She also jumped from our patio roof straight onto the ground quite often. We'd see her poke her head over the edge of the patio roof, look at the ground a bit, then she'd jump down with a "thunk."

Once, when our 2nd oldest granddaughter was about 4 years old, one of our sons-in-law heard about a photo contest for milk. It was for those magazine ads that usually showed a celebrity with a milk mustache and the words "Milk: It does a body good." I don't remember what the prize was, but he thought of Roxanne when he heard about the contest. You see, Roxanne was black & white, and one of her features was a white mustache. Dsil thought she'd be a good candidate for this contest, and he thought of our blonde, curly-headed granddaughter as an accompanying photo object. Who could resist a cute little curly-headed blonde girl and a sweet-looking black cat with a milk mustache. He never did enter the contest but somewhere in our archives we probably still have the pictures he took of granddaughter and cat and their milk mustaches.

About ten days ago we noticed Roxanne wasn't eating. She has been known to be picky from time to time, but not much we offered enticed her to eat. She ate a little cooked chicken, but even buying Fancy Feast cat food didn't do anything for her. So off to the vet she went. $276, some senior cat food and two weeks worth of antibiotics later, she was gone. She seemed to be picking up strength. She still didn't eat hardly anything, but she was going outside and walking around, and more importantly--fighting us off when we gave her the syringe full of milky white medicine two times a day. We fully expected her to recover--she still had almost a week's worth of antibiotics to take. Sadly, it wasn't to be. DH found her in her bed, no longer with us in body. We buried her in the back yard next to our pink rose bush.

She will be missed. She was a big part of our family for many, many years. And every time we lose a pet, I visit the Rainbow Bridge site online, which brings comfort at times like this. Here's the URL:
http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm

It never fails to bring tears to my eyes every time I read this poem. My brother sent me this URL years ago when they lost their cat Tsunami. I read it every time we lose a pet, and every time he loses one, too.

Goodbye, Roxanne! How we'll miss you!

Moving Day!

Moving Day!

My sister-in-law moved this past weekend. We helped.

For most of us, the words "Moving Day" strike terror in our hearts. This day was no exception!

We arrived at our destination--aka "old house"--shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday morning. The first thing we saw was a bunch of trucks and a large trailer in front of the "old house." This was good, because we were afraid we would be the only ones there to help, other than maybe one or two of her four children.

If you're a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as we are, one of the perks of membership is an experienced moving crew who will come and load up your stuff for you and haul it away to your new digs. For free, other than maybe some donuts or pizza. And they like it best when you have everything ready to go, boxed up and waiting, so all they have to do is load it into the van, trailer, pickup trucks or whatever moving option you have chosen. They really HATE it when you're not ready, although you'll usually not hear them say so. So when we parked and made our way through all the trucks to the door, this is what we had found--the
ultimate experienced moving crew.

By the time we got there, the trucks and trailer were pretty much packed, so we helped with the rest of the loading, and loaded stuff into our truck as well. To cut to the chase and not make this any longer than necessary, suffice it to say that we got furniture and boxes and all from the "old house" to the "new condo." And that is where the fun REALLY began!

Dsil and her dh (dear husband), had lived for a good 25 years or so in a 3,000 sq. ft. Colonial style mansion, modeled after the one her dh's sister lived in, in Tennessee. You may be aware of how much stuff accumulates after even 2 or 3 years of living in one place. Plus, with the wide double-doors in the old mansion, and wide hallways, no one probably even noticed that the oversized couches, dressers, and several fancy curio cabinets were a mover's nightmare. Two years ago they sold this mansion (all their kids had been gone for several years and they plain just didn't need or want to live in this large a house), and moved into the present
"old house," just a few blocks from the OLD old house. Now they were moving from the NEW "old house" to a condominium. And while obviously moving the oversized couches, dressers and curio cabinets hadn't presented much of a problem going from the OLD old house to the NEW old house, it was going to present a problem here.

The condo was upstairs. To get upstairs, you had to go up a narrow, totally covered stairway. Dsil assured the men that she had measured and the curio cabinets should go up those stairs and right into her new home. NOT! With a bit of huffing & puffing they could get the first one up to the turn. But it was too tight to make the turn, so they had to come back down again and park this one in the garage. They tried the next one, which was a little smaller, with the same results. I think there was a third one which they didn't even bother with and just moved it to the garage. Her son will probably rent a forklift and lift the things onto the garage roof, which is flat, and they can be hoisted over the deck railing and into the
sliding door fairly easily.

We learned a few things with this move.

#1. Make use of the free, experienced moving crew.
#2. Have plenty of boxes for the move.
#3. Have them packed and labeled with what's in them (she didn't) and where they go (she did).
#4. And this is the most important!!!!! Get rid of stuff BEFORE you move. Have a garage sale, donate, give away, or throw away, but look at what you have, determine if it's really something you need--and jettison the rest.

Dsil's dh assured us that when the moved from the OLD old house to the NEW old house, they got rid of a lot of stuff. They must have accumulated a LOT more stuff in the two years they were in the NEW old house. With a downsize in our future someday, it is a good time to begin our own program of getting rid of stuff!

JT: Future Sports SuperStar!

A few days ago we dropped in on our #2 daughter and her family for a quick visit. They just had a new baby and we hadn't seen him (or the rest of the family for that matter) in about a week or so, and it seemed a nice night for a visit. Especially since we were in the neighborhood.

Our 21 month old grandson has had a "thing" for balls since he was pretty young. If you are out of ideas for a birthday or Christmas gift for the little guy, buy him a new ball and you will be his new best friend. He packs them around, he throws them (naturally), and just in general loves balls of every size and shape. He was playing a game of "catch" with his mommy, and one of us commented on how much he loved balls and how good he was at throwing them (remember, he's not even 2 years old yet).

This prompted his daddy to relate the following story:

One day, when JT was about 18 months old, and maybe younger, "Dad" was sitting in JT's room, reading or doing something. "JT" was also in the room, but his daddy wasn't paying much attention to him. The chair which Dad was sitting in was next to a dresser, and on this dresser was a plastic inflatable reindeer. As Dad sat there reading or doing whatever (he never did really tell us what he was doing), this reindeer kept falling off the dresser. Dad reached down, picked it up and placed back on the dresser, only to have it fall off again a couple minutes later. After a few minutes of this, Dad began to wonder just why this reindeer was falling off the dresser--he was sure he was putting it back on far enough from the edge to keep it from falling. So Dad watched the reindeer. At that point, something went flying past Dad's head, and the reindeer fell to the ground one more time. He picked up the reindeer again, then watched JT. WHAM! JT let fly with one of his balls and pegged that reindeer--knocking him right off the dresser.

(end of story)

It didn't take long for JT to learn to shoot baskets. They keep a diaper pail in the garage where all the disposable diapers go when they've been used up pretty good. JT loves to open the door to the garage and throw those diapers into the pail. His daddy says he only misses about one in seven tries. He's also learned to stand in his crib and shoot balls into his Fisher-Price basketball hoop. He doesn't miss very often there, either.

We can't decide if he'll grow up to be a basketball or baseball star. He is also a good slider. Their floors are made of laminate (fake wood), and he likes to get a running start down the hallway, and slide into the kitchen on his knees. Works real good when he's in sweats--not so good if he's only wearing a diaper & t-shirt. This is something else he taught himself.

Yup, in about 20-25 years, we may see headlines about the athletic prowess of one "JT --------" Or sooner, in the case of little league and/or high school sports!

Hoppy-Cat

We are a 3-cat family. Two lady cats and a guy cat, whom we fondly term "Mafia Cat." Roxanne, the queen of the roost, is around 16 years old. She's actually our oldest daughter's cat, left with us when she got married because Roxanne was used to us, would be happier with us, and the new husband didn't particularly want a cat in his home. Piewacket belongs to our youngest daughter who still lives at home. She's around 6 years old, probably the least-offensive cat who lives with us. Mafia Cat, whose real name is Figaro, is about 3 years old, and is our son's cat, left with us when said son moved out almost 2 years ago. Son didn't have the pet deposit so it was supposed to be a temporary arrangement. Then said son discovered that the street he now lives on is rather busy, he asked if Figaro could continue to live with us.

Roxanne and Piewacket don't get along especially well as a rule. They tolerate each other on the good days, and hiss and spit on the others. Mafia Cat gets his entertainment by chasing after the girls every chance he gets. So "cat-life" in our household is never a dull moment. And because Mafia Cat doesn't get along with the girls, and because we value our sleep and don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by howling and growling, Mafia Cat gets put out before we go to bed.

Friday morning, Mafia Cat came in, limping slightly. I could see a little lump on his left rear foot, but no other indication of injury. I tried to look at it, but he was not happy about it. Did I mention that he is a very large cat? With sharp teeth and claws? Later in the morning he was meowing quite a bit. He seldom meows, and when he does it's more like a little squeek. He was doing a lot of meowing, so we knew something was wrong. So our daughter (Piewacket's "mommy") hunted down the cat carrier, and Dad & daughter hauled Mafia Cat off to the vet to have his injury checked out.

A couple hours and small fortune later, Mafia Cat returned home with a cast on his injured paw. For the next couple of hours he was very highly entertaining as he got used to his new apparel. He didn't know what to do with this new equipment. He couldn't put it down to walk on, so he stuck it straight out behind him. He could only move backwards, when he wasn't busy looking like one of the old childhood toys called "Weebles." He tried to stand, but always fell on his backside and rolled around, then tried to get up and ended up scooting around backwards. He scooted around the perimiter of the livingroom, landing in my knitting basket where he tried to dismantle the afghan I have been working on. I dug him out as carefully as I could, remembering his sharp teeth and claws.

He did manage to get himself to the kitchen for his dinner though, walking forwards and not backwards. But he continued his backwards scoots throughout the evening, leg stuck straight out behind him. And did I mention that he tried to chew the cast off his foot?

By Saturday morning he had a better handle on his cast. He was moving forward more than backwards, was less cranky, and had quit chewing on the cast. I think we're all going to live through this.

And the lady cats? They have enjoyed the past few days of peace and solitude, since Mafia Cat can't run fast enough to be a threat to them.

Random Thoughts on Mortality

We're all going to die. It's inevitable. It's a fact of life. We came to this earth to accomplish some things, with any luck we'll have a nice long life with lots of friends and family around us, and we will accomplish what we set out to do. And when it's all said and done, we leave our earthly life and go back. It's called "death," and it happens to us all.

Now I'm starting to get up there in years. I remember as a teenager thinking that I'd be 60 in 2007, and how far away that was. Well, it WAS far away--like 40+ years ago. But life has a way of continuing on, whether you're paying attention or not. Bingo! Here I am, I've lived more years than what I have left to live. Time to think about this a little more seriously.

And, there's nothing like having someone close to you, come close to death, to make you even more aware that time is passing.

On New Year's day, we got a call from our daughter Heather, who had an email from her cousin Marci, that her mother (my sister-in-law), was in the hospital with some sort of heart problems. They were going to run tests and see if she had had a heart attack, and run an angiogram to see how her arteries were doing. For the next several hours we sat waiting for more news. In the meantime, we did manage to get ahold of Marci, or she got ahold of us. We exchanged several phone calls and waited some more. Finally, later that evening, Marci called us back with the news. Three blocked arteries, and they would be doing bypass surgery probably on Weds.

Now my sister-in-law, Sandy, is a young 68--turning 69 in June. She has had some health problems, but has been taking better care of herself. We saw her on Christmas Eve as she & her husband came to our family celebration. She seemed fine to us, but we later found out that Marci, who had seen her the day before, didn't think she was so fine and wanted her to go to the doctor. She toughed it out another week, and finally had to admit something was wrong. Her son Brent drove her to the hospital, after she refused an ambulance.

To cut to the chase, Sandy is doing much better. She should make a full recovery, and of necessity should make some lifestyle changes to ensure she'll be around for a few more years.

Her wake-up call was ours as well. If we don't make some changes of our own, we may find ourselves where she was--or worse.