Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Yikes 2!
Amazing how quickly time flies. We're closing in on a year since my last post. I will address that soon. I hope!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Yikes!
How time flies, even when you're not having fun. I let this get away from me. It's been a busy, and sometimes stressful, summer, such as summer is/was.
The weather was lousy here until around the 5th of July. Too much rain, even in September, which is usually a warm and sunny month.
We've had the stress of dealing with my dad & step mom--dementia. We've known my step mom has been that way for the past 3 or 4 years, maybe more. But we've always relied on my dad to keep things flowing evenly in that household, even though he can't (or won't) cook, clean, etc. He could at least still drive, even though it was a little scary riding with him.
We visited earlier this year--in early June. Spent most of our time running them to doctor's appointments. Right after we came home, Alma's (step mom) daughter & her husband went to visit, and spent 3 weeks there researching out how to be of assistance from the distance we all live. They got a caregiver set up, and all was going well for a week or two until the neighbor mentioned to the caregiver that "there's guns in that house." That was the end of the caregivers, the agency would not send anyone in with guns in the house, and Dad has always had guns. We couldn't pry them away from him.
Things all broke loose a couple of weeks ago when Dad got a bee sting and decided he needed to go to the hospital. Really didn't need to, but it seems to be the Hand of God which sent him there. On the way home, he got lost. The police found him wandering/driving around, took him home, and when they realized that there were two old people suffering from dementia, they packed them up and took them back to the hospital for their safety. In order for them to be released, the social worker at the hospital had to know they would be safe. We've had an advocate working to get things going before, but when Dad heard it would cost him money, he shut that down quickly. To make a long story short--he had no choice now but to accept the help, and to pay for it. We haven't heard anything from them for more than a week, so we hope "no news is good news." We'll be calling this weekend.
The weather was lousy here until around the 5th of July. Too much rain, even in September, which is usually a warm and sunny month.
We've had the stress of dealing with my dad & step mom--dementia. We've known my step mom has been that way for the past 3 or 4 years, maybe more. But we've always relied on my dad to keep things flowing evenly in that household, even though he can't (or won't) cook, clean, etc. He could at least still drive, even though it was a little scary riding with him.
We visited earlier this year--in early June. Spent most of our time running them to doctor's appointments. Right after we came home, Alma's (step mom) daughter & her husband went to visit, and spent 3 weeks there researching out how to be of assistance from the distance we all live. They got a caregiver set up, and all was going well for a week or two until the neighbor mentioned to the caregiver that "there's guns in that house." That was the end of the caregivers, the agency would not send anyone in with guns in the house, and Dad has always had guns. We couldn't pry them away from him.
Things all broke loose a couple of weeks ago when Dad got a bee sting and decided he needed to go to the hospital. Really didn't need to, but it seems to be the Hand of God which sent him there. On the way home, he got lost. The police found him wandering/driving around, took him home, and when they realized that there were two old people suffering from dementia, they packed them up and took them back to the hospital for their safety. In order for them to be released, the social worker at the hospital had to know they would be safe. We've had an advocate working to get things going before, but when Dad heard it would cost him money, he shut that down quickly. To make a long story short--he had no choice now but to accept the help, and to pay for it. We haven't heard anything from them for more than a week, so we hope "no news is good news." We'll be calling this weekend.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
With a Song and a Prayer
I have only sat in on one other "you're going to lose your job" meeting, but I'm sure I wouldn't be the first to say that beginning one of these sessions doesn't normally begin with an opening song and a prayer. It didn't 26 years ago as I lost my job with Republic Airlines.
That said, on Friday, May 7th, DC was called in for a special meeting involving all Facilities Management groups in our area--the Facilities Managers, Office Assistants, Mechanics, and Custodians. We were told the position of Custodian is being eliminated world-wide in the church. This is the LDS Church, in case someone happens to wander in here who is not a part of my family and who doesn't know us. My husband (DC) has worked for the church as a custodian for two months shy of three years now. Before that, he had been a self-employed delivery driver. The pay wasn't quite as good in his delivery job as the church pays, but we more than made up for it because the work was steadier and we didn't have to pay both sides of our Social Security taxes.
The options we have include taking their voluntary package of 2 weeks pay for every year served plus they would pay our medical insurance for a year, providing DC quits the job. Since he's not been on the job for quite three years, they would only give him four weeks pay. With the economy and job situation the way it is in our area, that's not the best option for us. Some who have been on their jobs for longer, would probably benefit by quitting and taking the package. There are some who are at or near retirement age for whom this works. While we're near retirement age, the time on this particular job isn't enough to be of a lot of help.
If DC doesn't quit and take the package, the church would (theoretically) find him another job. However, because it's contingent on how many people take the voluntary package to quit, the number of jobs and what they are will not be known for a while. So, we have some thinking and deciding to do in the next 45 days (which is the deadline for letting them know one way or the other). And if we don't decide, they will decide for us and he will be terminated.
Oh, and if any of my readers are LDS: Be prepared to handle your own toilet cleaning and plugged toilet chores beginning at some point later this summer. Your friendly neighborhood custodian will no longer be around to do it for you.
That said, on Friday, May 7th, DC was called in for a special meeting involving all Facilities Management groups in our area--the Facilities Managers, Office Assistants, Mechanics, and Custodians. We were told the position of Custodian is being eliminated world-wide in the church. This is the LDS Church, in case someone happens to wander in here who is not a part of my family and who doesn't know us. My husband (DC) has worked for the church as a custodian for two months shy of three years now. Before that, he had been a self-employed delivery driver. The pay wasn't quite as good in his delivery job as the church pays, but we more than made up for it because the work was steadier and we didn't have to pay both sides of our Social Security taxes.
The options we have include taking their voluntary package of 2 weeks pay for every year served plus they would pay our medical insurance for a year, providing DC quits the job. Since he's not been on the job for quite three years, they would only give him four weeks pay. With the economy and job situation the way it is in our area, that's not the best option for us. Some who have been on their jobs for longer, would probably benefit by quitting and taking the package. There are some who are at or near retirement age for whom this works. While we're near retirement age, the time on this particular job isn't enough to be of a lot of help.
If DC doesn't quit and take the package, the church would (theoretically) find him another job. However, because it's contingent on how many people take the voluntary package to quit, the number of jobs and what they are will not be known for a while. So, we have some thinking and deciding to do in the next 45 days (which is the deadline for letting them know one way or the other). And if we don't decide, they will decide for us and he will be terminated.
Oh, and if any of my readers are LDS: Be prepared to handle your own toilet cleaning and plugged toilet chores beginning at some point later this summer. Your friendly neighborhood custodian will no longer be around to do it for you.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Night of Beauty
I have written before about Ardyth's birthday gift to me--an "Activity of the Month." For March, the activity was a beautification event--facials, manicures, pedicures. But we thought it would be good to include the other females in our family, so our "Night of Beauty" was organized for last evening. Everyone gathered at my house about 6 p.m., bringing what beauty products they had, as well as a family staple: FOOD!
First, the food was set out. We had Taco Soup, a great green salad with homemade dressing, chips, crackers, dips, bread chunks with Spinach dip, Raspberry Strippers, homemade baking powder biscuits with garlic butter, peanut butter bars, and probably other things I'm not remembering. With this family, food seems to be all-important at family gatherings.
Once dinner was out of the way, we set out the tools of beautification.
For facials, the steps included:
1. Cleansing
2. Facial scrub to remove dead skin
3. Steaming, to open the pores
4. Applying the facial mask to deep clean the pores
5. Removing said facial mask
6. Appreciating the softness of our skin when this process was done
On to pedicures or manicures. We have a massaging foot bath that was used by those who were patient enough to wait their turn, otherwise there were bowls of very warm water to soak feet in. The massaging foot bath felt very good. There were foot creams, then time to trim and paint toenails. Mine are a nice shade of purple. Too early for sandals in this part of the country, but if I am barefoot for any reason--they do jump right out at you.
All the tools were available for a manicure, including emery boards and nail buffers, orange sticks, cuticle creams, nail polish, etc.
We enjoyed the evening, it's always fun when just us girls get together. We have periodic "Girls Nights" or "Days," just not often enough. Heffalump even came down for this one. Can't wait to see what we do next!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Adventures in Spokane
Spokane, Washington, is a pretty little town. At least, what little bit I get to see of it each year. Our Sweet Adelines region has been holding our yearly convention in Spokane for the past couple of years, and apparently will hold two or three more in the future.
Competition is held at the Convention Center, which is housed right beside the Spokane River. Along the river is a delightful walkway, with statues along the way depicting life in Spokane. The river itself is pretty--not as big of course, as the Columbia River or the Willamette in Portland, but a nice river. There's a set of falls near the Convention Center that are pretty rapid in later months, but pretty tame on this visit. I believe the original name of Spokane was "Spokane Falls." I've not walked the whole walkway, perhaps next year I'll attempt it if there's time, and depending on how far this walkway goes. This year we enjoyed many walks between our hotel and the Convention Center and Headquarters hotel (Red Lion at the Park), because the shuttle buses that were supposed to transport us to and from these places were either late or full. But the weather was great (although a little chilly), so a lot of the time we opted to walk--not wanting to stand around waiting for a bus. I certainly got my exercise in this weekend!
One of these years I'd like to come into town a day early, when my time is my own, and explore. My in-laws were both born and raised here. I'd like to see more of their home town and try to imagine what life was like for them back in the 1920's and '30's.
What an adventure that would be--recreating their adventure!
Competition is held at the Convention Center, which is housed right beside the Spokane River. Along the river is a delightful walkway, with statues along the way depicting life in Spokane. The river itself is pretty--not as big of course, as the Columbia River or the Willamette in Portland, but a nice river. There's a set of falls near the Convention Center that are pretty rapid in later months, but pretty tame on this visit. I believe the original name of Spokane was "Spokane Falls." I've not walked the whole walkway, perhaps next year I'll attempt it if there's time, and depending on how far this walkway goes. This year we enjoyed many walks between our hotel and the Convention Center and Headquarters hotel (Red Lion at the Park), because the shuttle buses that were supposed to transport us to and from these places were either late or full. But the weather was great (although a little chilly), so a lot of the time we opted to walk--not wanting to stand around waiting for a bus. I certainly got my exercise in this weekend!
One of these years I'd like to come into town a day early, when my time is my own, and explore. My in-laws were both born and raised here. I'd like to see more of their home town and try to imagine what life was like for them back in the 1920's and '30's.
What an adventure that would be--recreating their adventure!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Life's' Little Adventures
Lately, I've been thinking about this *Adventure* we call life. A couple of people I know are about to embark on a grand adventure--moving across country. Okay, so one is only moving across her state, but when the lady from the Sweet Adeline's chorus I'm a member of told me she was thinking about driving to the Washington DC area instead of flying there, I began to wish I could have a great adventure, myself. But as I thought more about these lucky people, the thought came to me to look for my own adventures in my back yard. So I began to think some more.
Last week I listened to a man at the Clark Co. Genealogical Society as he gave us a run-down on his life, and I thought "What an adventure!" He grew up in upstate NY, lost both his parents when he was pretty young, and embarked on his life's adventure when he joined the Air Force and spent the next 20 years or more, traveling the world. As he told his story I began to think of the other adventures I was aware of that other people have had or are still having:
1. My grandmother, traveling in a wagon train from Marysville, Kansas to Boise, Idaho
2. My mother, driving in a model T from Marysville, Kansas to La Grande, Oregon with her parents and sisters.
3. My gg grandmother's sister-in-law traveling from New Mexico to Idaho with her family in one of the last wagon trains to cross the Oregon Trail.
4. All those pioneers who came west in the 1800's from comfortable homes to the wilderness.
5. All those brave souls who left their comfortable homes in Germany, England, and other countries, boarded a ship and sailed for many weeks in crowded conditions to come to America.
6. Those people still coming to our country from overseas to a world that is strange to them.
And I'm sure you can think of more examples. As I thought about this, I realized that in most cases, they did not think they were having an "adventure." This was "life" to them. How many of us have *adventures* but fail to recognize them as such?
I thought of some of my *adventures* that I did not recognize at the time, not necessarily in order of occurrence:
1. My family's own moves, to and from the Seattle area.
2. Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.
3. Driving across country with my mother, two small daughters and our dog as we returned to her hometown of Marysville, Kansas.
4. The weekend in Las Vegas when my mother-in-law received her Masters degree in Nutrition.
5. Traveling by train to Colorado to visit my dad with 4 year-old twins and 6 year-old son.
6. Our yearly car trip to Colorado Springs to visit my dad--this year will be our 18th trip.
7. Sweet Adelines' annual Regional Competition, this year held in Spokane.
8. The births of each of my six children and how they changed myself and our family.
9. Traveling to Salt Lake City with the Clark Co. Genealogical Society to spend a week at the Family History Library.
I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones which came immediately to mind.
A trip to the grocery store can be an adventure for some people! I have come to the conclusion that we need to look outside the box and realize that our lives are an adventure, whether we ever leave familiar grounds or not. Some day, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will look on our lives and think that we lived in adventurous times, just like we look back on our own grandparents' and great-grandparents' lives. If we take the time to record our life's adventures, we can share it with them. While it might just be *life* to us, in the eyes of someone else it can become an adventure.
And with a change of attitude, our *life* can become an adventure to us, too! Bon Voyage!
Last week I listened to a man at the Clark Co. Genealogical Society as he gave us a run-down on his life, and I thought "What an adventure!" He grew up in upstate NY, lost both his parents when he was pretty young, and embarked on his life's adventure when he joined the Air Force and spent the next 20 years or more, traveling the world. As he told his story I began to think of the other adventures I was aware of that other people have had or are still having:
1. My grandmother, traveling in a wagon train from Marysville, Kansas to Boise, Idaho
2. My mother, driving in a model T from Marysville, Kansas to La Grande, Oregon with her parents and sisters.
3. My gg grandmother's sister-in-law traveling from New Mexico to Idaho with her family in one of the last wagon trains to cross the Oregon Trail.
4. All those pioneers who came west in the 1800's from comfortable homes to the wilderness.
5. All those brave souls who left their comfortable homes in Germany, England, and other countries, boarded a ship and sailed for many weeks in crowded conditions to come to America.
6. Those people still coming to our country from overseas to a world that is strange to them.
And I'm sure you can think of more examples. As I thought about this, I realized that in most cases, they did not think they were having an "adventure." This was "life" to them. How many of us have *adventures* but fail to recognize them as such?
I thought of some of my *adventures* that I did not recognize at the time, not necessarily in order of occurrence:
1. My family's own moves, to and from the Seattle area.
2. Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.
3. Driving across country with my mother, two small daughters and our dog as we returned to her hometown of Marysville, Kansas.
4. The weekend in Las Vegas when my mother-in-law received her Masters degree in Nutrition.
5. Traveling by train to Colorado to visit my dad with 4 year-old twins and 6 year-old son.
6. Our yearly car trip to Colorado Springs to visit my dad--this year will be our 18th trip.
7. Sweet Adelines' annual Regional Competition, this year held in Spokane.
8. The births of each of my six children and how they changed myself and our family.
9. Traveling to Salt Lake City with the Clark Co. Genealogical Society to spend a week at the Family History Library.
I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones which came immediately to mind.
A trip to the grocery store can be an adventure for some people! I have come to the conclusion that we need to look outside the box and realize that our lives are an adventure, whether we ever leave familiar grounds or not. Some day, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will look on our lives and think that we lived in adventurous times, just like we look back on our own grandparents' and great-grandparents' lives. If we take the time to record our life's adventures, we can share it with them. While it might just be *life* to us, in the eyes of someone else it can become an adventure.
And with a change of attitude, our *life* can become an adventure to us, too! Bon Voyage!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Catching Up
Wow! I didn't realize how much time has gone by since I did my last post. We got through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, a snow storm, and various other things over the past two months. So here goes with catching up.
In November, Ardyth gave me another installment of my birthday present--window shopping in downtown Portland, along with dinner. We had a late lunch-early dinner at her apartment in NW PDX--a great home made soup, salad and garlic bread. Yummy! We were headed to the Saturday Market in downtown PDX, so after we ate we headed over to the streetcar stop. It was 20 minutes till the next one and we didn't want to waste time standing around waiting for it. We decided to walk to the next stop to kill some time, but ended up walking instead over to the Max Station by PGE Park. We had at least a 10-block walk to get there. My knees were in pretty good shape and after dropping a few pounds, I was feeling good so I didn't mind the walk. Boarded Max and rode down to Saturday Market. We walked around it for a while, looking at all the goods. It was getting pretty close to closing time by the time we got there. We did buy three red velvet cupcakes at one of the booths--saving one for Princess A, who was meeting us after she got off work. Once we met up with her, we walked up to Pioneer Courthouse Square to get a look at the Christmas tree. It wasn't lit yet (this was the Saturday before Thanksgiving and it wouldn't be lit until the day after Thanksgiving), but we could at least see it. On the way, which took another long walk, we nearly walked into a street fight, and heard what I thought was a parade--I heard the familiar sounds of drums echoing through the streets. Turned out it was a young man sitting on a street corner with 4 or 5 overturned 5-gallon buckets and a pair of drumsticks. He put on quite a show--he really did sound like the drum section of a marching band. I wanted to leave him a little money but didn't want Ardyth to get too far ahead of me. Once we were done at the Pioneer Square, we decided to head on over to Powell's bookstore. Walk? Ride the streetcar? I was still feeling pretty good, so we walked another bunch of blocks (10 or so maybe) to Powells, spent time looking around and buying books. I only bought a quilting book, Princess A bought a bunch of anime' books, and I don't remember what Ardyth bought, but it was time to head back to her apartment. Walk? Ride the bus? Still feeling fairly peppy, so off we strode again. It's probably another 10 blocks or so from Powell's to Ardyth's home, and by the time we were halfway there I was finally wishing we had opted for the streetcar. I was pooped, my knees hurt, and it was difficult to drag myself those last few blocks. More soup, then home. My knees are still protesting some 2 months later. But that was a fun Saturday--I'm really enjoying this birthday gift.
December's birthday activity was a movie night. Ardyth came over with dinner and "Julia and Julie." What a great movie! Stanley Tucci was in it, and we also showed her "Shall We Dance?" which also featured him. Another fun night. Looking forward to this Saturday when it's "Tea Party" time.
Thanksgiving was fairly quiet--it was our off-year when none of the kids and families were here. Except Josephus Awrightus. We held off dinner until 6 p.m for his benefit, since he works nights and sleeps days.
The week before Christmas we had a surprise snow storm. Not as bad as last year's storm which began on December 13th and lasted past Christmas. Wasn't that bad here, and it didn't start till after we were all home safe & snug. Enough snow for me for the year.
Christmas Eve was the usual pandemonium, with 26 people present this year. It was good to see Miss Magee, home from school in the east. We made the usual potato salad, had deli-style sandwiches, chips, etc. Opened Christmas presents. Enjoyed a Christmas puppet show put on by Myra and her husband Art. Noisy, but fun. Christmas day we ate at Pink Avenger's and watched the latest Star Trek movie. Another nice time, PA is becoming a pretty good cook.
We expected a nice, quiet New Year's Eve at home but got invited to spend the evening with several couples from church at a *progressive dinner.* For those who may not know what this is, you eat your dinner at various homes--hors d'oeveres at one location, soup or salad somewhere else, the main course at a third location, and dessert at someone else's home. What a fun night--we are usually home bodies on New Years Eve, but this was different AND fun.
My car broke yesterday. I was carless today, but DC was able to fix it tonight, even though it wasn't easy and wasn't cheap. The greatest part was that perhaps the persistent oil leak that allows oil to slop onto the engine and smoke & smell bad, may be fixed as well. I will get the errands I wanted to do today, done tomorrow, so we'll tell for sure. It will be nice to have it back, and kudos to DC for his persistence and skill in fixing it.
That's not all, but you may be falling asleep by now so I will stop, and try not to let so much time go by between posts.
In November, Ardyth gave me another installment of my birthday present--window shopping in downtown Portland, along with dinner. We had a late lunch-early dinner at her apartment in NW PDX--a great home made soup, salad and garlic bread. Yummy! We were headed to the Saturday Market in downtown PDX, so after we ate we headed over to the streetcar stop. It was 20 minutes till the next one and we didn't want to waste time standing around waiting for it. We decided to walk to the next stop to kill some time, but ended up walking instead over to the Max Station by PGE Park. We had at least a 10-block walk to get there. My knees were in pretty good shape and after dropping a few pounds, I was feeling good so I didn't mind the walk. Boarded Max and rode down to Saturday Market. We walked around it for a while, looking at all the goods. It was getting pretty close to closing time by the time we got there. We did buy three red velvet cupcakes at one of the booths--saving one for Princess A, who was meeting us after she got off work. Once we met up with her, we walked up to Pioneer Courthouse Square to get a look at the Christmas tree. It wasn't lit yet (this was the Saturday before Thanksgiving and it wouldn't be lit until the day after Thanksgiving), but we could at least see it. On the way, which took another long walk, we nearly walked into a street fight, and heard what I thought was a parade--I heard the familiar sounds of drums echoing through the streets. Turned out it was a young man sitting on a street corner with 4 or 5 overturned 5-gallon buckets and a pair of drumsticks. He put on quite a show--he really did sound like the drum section of a marching band. I wanted to leave him a little money but didn't want Ardyth to get too far ahead of me. Once we were done at the Pioneer Square, we decided to head on over to Powell's bookstore. Walk? Ride the streetcar? I was still feeling pretty good, so we walked another bunch of blocks (10 or so maybe) to Powells, spent time looking around and buying books. I only bought a quilting book, Princess A bought a bunch of anime' books, and I don't remember what Ardyth bought, but it was time to head back to her apartment. Walk? Ride the bus? Still feeling fairly peppy, so off we strode again. It's probably another 10 blocks or so from Powell's to Ardyth's home, and by the time we were halfway there I was finally wishing we had opted for the streetcar. I was pooped, my knees hurt, and it was difficult to drag myself those last few blocks. More soup, then home. My knees are still protesting some 2 months later. But that was a fun Saturday--I'm really enjoying this birthday gift.
December's birthday activity was a movie night. Ardyth came over with dinner and "Julia and Julie." What a great movie! Stanley Tucci was in it, and we also showed her "Shall We Dance?" which also featured him. Another fun night. Looking forward to this Saturday when it's "Tea Party" time.
Thanksgiving was fairly quiet--it was our off-year when none of the kids and families were here. Except Josephus Awrightus. We held off dinner until 6 p.m for his benefit, since he works nights and sleeps days.
The week before Christmas we had a surprise snow storm. Not as bad as last year's storm which began on December 13th and lasted past Christmas. Wasn't that bad here, and it didn't start till after we were all home safe & snug. Enough snow for me for the year.
Christmas Eve was the usual pandemonium, with 26 people present this year. It was good to see Miss Magee, home from school in the east. We made the usual potato salad, had deli-style sandwiches, chips, etc. Opened Christmas presents. Enjoyed a Christmas puppet show put on by Myra and her husband Art. Noisy, but fun. Christmas day we ate at Pink Avenger's and watched the latest Star Trek movie. Another nice time, PA is becoming a pretty good cook.
We expected a nice, quiet New Year's Eve at home but got invited to spend the evening with several couples from church at a *progressive dinner.* For those who may not know what this is, you eat your dinner at various homes--hors d'oeveres at one location, soup or salad somewhere else, the main course at a third location, and dessert at someone else's home. What a fun night--we are usually home bodies on New Years Eve, but this was different AND fun.
My car broke yesterday. I was carless today, but DC was able to fix it tonight, even though it wasn't easy and wasn't cheap. The greatest part was that perhaps the persistent oil leak that allows oil to slop onto the engine and smoke & smell bad, may be fixed as well. I will get the errands I wanted to do today, done tomorrow, so we'll tell for sure. It will be nice to have it back, and kudos to DC for his persistence and skill in fixing it.
That's not all, but you may be falling asleep by now so I will stop, and try not to let so much time go by between posts.
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