Day Two

Two days of eating regularly and sleeping have really improved the demeanue of the Burundi family. Mom and Dad (Maryana and Mashimango) are always smiling when I pop in. The kids stop playing in Phil's back yard and come running to greet me. Today I took over two "play in the dirt" type trucks for the little boys (Eritie and JeanMarie) and a large red wagon. All six kids had to have a turn at playing with them. Just warms the heart watching their innocence.
Yesterday I played a card game (9 up) with Erike, Raphael and Martha. Using signs I was able to get most of the concepts of the game over to them. They can count in English and could determine (very accurately) their own scores.
I rushed out last night and scoured Value Village for sweat cloths for all of them (coming from the tropics to September in Spokane can be a bit of a shock to the system - they were cold.) Then went to Fred Meyer and spent almost as much just on socks for all. (Haven't even delved into underwear needs). Maryana was wearing a Muumuu today (I didn't give her that) so now I know what to be on the lookout for for her. When I went up today, JeanMarie was wearing the jacket I had picked out for Martha. Go figure.
This is such a brave family. There are other families from the same refugee camp here in Spokane already who have been visiting, much to everyone's delight.
I am told that they will be worshiping with us on Sunday. I can't wait to hear them sing a song to us.

Burundi Family Arrives

Off the plane came today a family of eight refugees from Burundi looking very tired and dazed.

Here they are getting introduced to their interpreter (in the short sleeves - back to the camera). They are all in identical grey sweatshirts.

Imagine setting out from the middle of Africa one day and landing the next in Spokane.

Mom and dad with five boys and one girl. Such a close family. I think that is the girl next to the white fist. The family resemblance is so great I could only tell which was the girl by the sandals she was wearing.

The two youngest boys delighted in the toys I brought for them. They were quietly occupied while the adults waited for the baggage.

I think this boy is the 15 years old. He looked drained. Bet they will all sleep tonight.

Carpets

Called a company, recommended by a neighbor, to come in and clean my carpets. Today was the day. In walks the most "Fiddler on the Roof" typically Jewish man in Spokane. Jerry immediately started a conversation with him. He was very intelligent, articulate, interesting to listen to. Of all things, to be in my living room listening to a Jewish Rabbi. His views of Judaism, the Palestinian thing, the history I have been reading, all makes one stop and ponder. If the Jews are the "chosen people" who are the "chosen people" of the New Testament? I thought Christians were. Many more ideas were thrown into the air and are slowly settling in my consciousness.
We definitely need to have him in for coffee just to listen to him again.
P.S. His son did an excellent job with the carpets.

Holy Land

Our tour guide has sent us literature to read (I haven't done so yet), suggested books to read (Jerry has read all and more), and I have taken a summer missions class on Israel and Palestine which only caused me much mental distress as I did not pay attention, growing up, as this history was unfolding. Now I am in catch up mode. The "Israel/Palestine" book from the study made me mad at the Israelis. I read "Queen Nor" and became angry at the interfering Europeans. I am now reading "Daughter of Persia" and "Exodus". At least "Exodus", even though a novel, seems to be filling in a lot of the blanks and pulling the pieces together. I'm only 1/3 of the way through.
CNN aired a three part series on "Warriors of God" this week. Did anyone else watch it? The first night was about the Jews. Very good, informative. The second was about Islam. Also good. Explained the reasoning behind martyrdom. I was out for the third one on Christianity. Jerry watched it and was not impressed.

Happy Valentines Day

Last February Jerry gave me a gardenia plant for Valentines. It was loaded with buds and I thought for sure one would open up. They just kept falling off. I changed rooms. They just kept falling off. I put it outside in a shady corner of my patio. And Presto! I have blossoms. Thanks, Jerry. I have never been able to get a gardenia to bloom before. Now to try to keep it alive over the winter.

Birds

Last fall I put out a bird feeder. We attracted birds all winter. This summer I have continued to fill the feeder and enjoy watching mainly sparrows feed every day. Some counts have been 40 individuals at one seating. Chattering, flitting, eating.
The cats enjoy watching them too. TJ, my athletic cat, is not allowed outside unless I'm with her and so watches from the window. (I'm afraid she will hop the fence and try to play chicken with a car and loose.)
Polly, on the other hand, does not leap well, being of the heaver set, so is allowed out at will. This morning she went out when seemingly no birds were around. Wrong. We watched as she jumped (into the fence) after an unsuspecting ground feeding bird and missed. But, wonders of wonders, came out of the bush with a different bird in her mouth. She brought it to the back door (expecting to be allowed to play with it in the house?). I allowed that was not going to happen and told her to release the poor little thing. She did and the bird flew off to tell his flock. She is back outside - waiting,,,, (cue the "Jaws" music.)

I'm picky

Casey bought fabric for a long sleeved tee shirt with a hood. Changed her mind. Cut the fabric into strips and alternated the black and white. I was ok with that. She took the project home and finished it. White zigzagged stitchs on black material, puckers, rolled over edges sewn with two or three lines of stitching. Not well done. Certainly not something she would have worn to school. The teacher raved about it. It was so artsy. Hog wash. She needs to learn to sew a garment correctly then she can do the artsy stuff and it will be quality. I took it appart and had her do it over again. This time with a zipper and fabric eased into eachother so there were no puckers. The teacher refused to help her from then on with this project because it was clearly not Casey's dress anymore, it was grandma's. MMMMM.
Am I wrong to want the girls to know how to put out quality items and not slip-shod stuff that will end up in the garbage the minute they get home? Sydney is more meticulous and does quality work. Casey is the "Fast Food" generation kid who wants it done quickly and to heck how it looks as long as it is finished.
No class until Tuesday. I have a meeting on Tuesday so the girls will be on their own without grandma hoovering over them. Wonder what they will come up with.

Sewing Camp

Boyd Walker, my favorite sewing machine store, is holding a "Kids Camp" this week and next. We have the grand girls enrolled. Cost of the camp includes 8 days of sewing instruction and the participants get to keep the machine they are working on (a Pfaff 1134? - a $300 machine). Anyway, yesterday was the first day. Grandma packed up fabric, patterns, pins, thread, scissors etc. and her machine and spent the day cutting out fabric and sewing. Came home and all I wanted to do was sit in the chair with my feet up.

Happenings

Got our vote-by-mail documents yesterday. We have a pathetic slate of local government hopefuls. It's always fun to put "Edna Farkwart" in the sign-in blank. What the heck, she might be as good as what we have anyway.
Tyrone is hyped. He got a ballot He's coming over this morning to "research" the candidates on line. He, with his drug muddled brain, has even been on jury duty. This ladies and gentlemen .... (Brian could go on about that).
Tomorrow is the last of the summer theatre offerings in Coeur d'Alene. A group of us from the pool bought summer season tickets and carpool over. After we go out to dinner. A great way to try new and different food offerings in our area. Tomorrow will be Chef in the Woods. Supposed to be a good one.
Uma brought her broken rice cooker (the big one) over yesterday. Guess she wanted me to fix it or take it in for repairs. I told her to toss it. She wants a new one. I told her to use her small one. Oh, yeah. She forgot she had a small one. Why she needs a family sized rice cooker when she is the only one that eats rice in her house. -- She is still looking for a job.
Speaking of jobs, Jhary starts her new job tomorrow. It is a dumb, no brainer (?) - she has to load sodas into vending machines. How they can figure out a pay for that is beyond me. She needs the "group employment" thing so is rather limited as to what she can/wants to do. Yard work and janitorial are out.
Haven't heard from Traivon for a month. Guess I'll have to take his mail to him and see what's going on.
Next week Casey and Sydney start Sewing Camp. Four days a week, six hours a day. At the end of the two weeks they get to keep the sewing machine. All for a little over $300 each. Not too shabby. I'll be tagging along just because it will give me a concentrated time to sew. We purchased fabric and patterns Thursday. I've washed and pressed same and will be putting together the odds and ends I think we will need. I'll be working on some of my Hidden Pocket patterns - vest, blouse, pants - preparation for our trip in November.

School of Missions

Spent four days at Issaquah in the School of Missions last week. This year we studied how music is/was affected/affective in the mission of the church (how missionaries of old would try to bring Christianity to the Heathen" using European style and wiping out the cultural songs). Now there is an actual study course you can take at college level on Ethnomusicology. That would be quite interesting if you were really into music.
The other course was on Israel-Palestine. Now I've got to admit, I was not "up" on what has been happening in the Holy Land. With the "giving" of land to the Jews after WWII through the 7 day war, I was all for the Jews - getting back the Promised Land, fulfillment of scripture, yada, yada, yada. Recently I read "Queen Noor" and heard how this land was given (taken from the Jordanians). This study told how the people living in Palestine were driven out and displaced (still are). Present day Israel was not just some vast area on uninhabited land waiting for its' "people" to return. There were people who had lived there for generations who all of a sudden were told to leave without any say or compensation for their land or goods. This is not fair. I can understand why there has been tension. And the US government is behind Israel and refuses to acknowledge Palestine even exists.
And then there is the issue of the WALL. Israel has constructed a 30' high wall supposedly along the "green line" (the border between Israel and Palestine). This wall of separation was to keep the Palestinian terrorists out of Israel. (Sound familiar?) Well, the wall is encroaching ever more into the Palestinian territory, taking olive groves, farmland, water sources and separating farmers from their lands, family units from each other. Checkpoints along the wall are manned by Israeli soldiers who determine if or if not you can cross from one side to the other. The oppressed Jews are now the oppressors. Not very fair in my mind.
So now I come to the "American Wall". This fantastic barrier that is supposed to keep the Mexicans out of the US. Guess what? Just as the US supported the Israeli government financially to build their wall of separation, so is the Israeli government going to support us. We are hiring their expertise. Can you believe that? Israel is going to build the wall for us. No bull. This wall is not going to help matters. Only make them worse. Did we learn nothing from the Berlin Wall? Even the Great Wall of China didn't keep out the invaders for ever.
I know now where Brian gets his passion. I just have mine down deeper - he brings is to the surface and lets it boil over more often.
Peace.

Oh, Yeah. I finished Harry Potter. It was great. It ended as it should. Very just.

HARRY POTTER

Got my birthday present yesterday. Aaron ordered the seventh Harry Potter book for me for my birthday, so I missed going to the parties, sob (like I would have been one of the crazies who stayed up till midnight only read all night long just to be the first to finish). lol The UPS man delivered it about 3pm and I dropped everything (well, I had "done" everything with my nervous energy - cleaning the fridge and behind, mopping floors, changing the sheets, doing up the wash, you get the idea) and started to read. I'm a slow reader. Got through chapter four and had to stop to fix dinner thinking that Hagrid died from a fall off his motor cycle (he doesn't wear a helmet). Chapter five he was only knocked out. Whew.
Today no Sunday paper was delivered. I think the paper deliver person misread the vacation hold. I stopped the paper beginning tomorrow. Oh, well. So I'm reading at the breakfast table. Off to church then a 'sew in" from 2-6 so my afternoon is non-reading time.
Monday we leave for a mission study in Issaquah. Jerry asked if I was going to take the book with me. Of course. I know that Sydney (the 9 year old) and Jessica (in Tel Aviv) will have finished the book during the week so I have to plug on or I'll not be able to enter into the conversations.

I need to chill

We have been attending the adult class in this year's VBS, Walking the Bible. Very interesting PBS offering in three easy to watch sessions. The churches combined this year to put on the VBS for the kids; splitting duties (song leaders, story tellers, snack preparers, and local) between the churches - one night per church. Since our church has no children, there was really no participation on the children's level, but we were still responsible for providing snacks last night. No committee formed, only a pastor who inquired, after the Monday night session, if I knew anything about what was being planned. That should have clued me in to the fact that "nothing" had been planned. I let it slide Tuesday, and on Wednesday called a couple of the other adult participants to see if they knew anything about it. I'm getting a bit panicky now, as the other churches have put on quite a spread and I know that these things take a bit of planning and shopping and work. I opt to dash off to the store and get some juice and a couple of melons hoping that others will bring some crackers or something. My mood darkens as the day progresses (helped by the duties of driving grandchildren to and from summer programs, shopping trips, and lunch). We arrive at the church with time to spare and find that the pastor has purchased and arranged on plates figs, dates, grapes and cherries; made hummus; put out bowls of crackers (two different kinds) and is only lacking napkins. I add my offering of melon and place the juice in the fridge to stay cool. I really need to learn how to read that man. Or he really needs to learn how to communicate with me.



Today Casey spent the
afternoon in the dentist
chair getting braces. She is thrilled.

Simply Divine

As you know, I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance about two years ago. Since that time I have eaten NO ice cream, cheese, cream cheese, pudding, cottage cheese, cheese burgers, cheese cake, pumpkin pie made with milk (or any other great dessert made with milk or milk product). I have adjusted. I eat more fruit for my sweet tooth, but in the summer time truly miss ice cream.
Joy of joys. Rice Dream makes fake ice cream as does a company called Good Karma that puts out a product called Organic Rice Divine. I'm in heaven. Ate a pint of the Rice Divine last night. Wasn't too impressed with the Rice Dream product.

happy fourth

Yesterday was Traivon's 29th birthday.

Amazing he has made it this far. lol

His party was at the home of his Fiance`s Aunt. Lots of young people there. We didn't stay long.



"Little Trai" is quite a chunk. Definitely not underfed.







Trai is a natural with the boy.

Hoopfest

Here we go. Another Hoopfest in beautiful downtown Spokane. This is the largest 3 on 3 street basketball event in the nation.






Jhary ever the competitor loves the sport and does quite will. Given the ball and with no giants towering over her she has a pretty good eye.


She can be a bit bossy as you can see, but she knows where people need to be.






They lost two games on Saturday so did not move on to the Sunday games.

I WON !!

Sent out a ballot to all the condo residents requesting "permission" to lay out a drip watering system, remember? The votes are in 10 residents are on my side. The two who were against me are the dude who complained in the first place and his good buddy who doesn't vote but lets "dude" vote for him.

Tomorrow I will call the installer and reschedule.

Jhary's last day at her job was a week ago Friday. She is getting very bored. Time to start looking for another job. I doubt she will get one as good as the one she left.

Uma may get a job at Sacred Heart Hospital in the kitchen. She will interview some time this week. If she doesn't get this one the job developer says she will develop one for her. It would be great if she could get some extra cash and have something meaningful to do.

Took Tyrone out for dinner for his birthday. The meds he is on help his ability to sort things out but he still has a great imagination and confuses reality with fantasy - and they have caused weight gain. Too bad. He was such an athlete and so much fun. Maybe he will improve to the point of being able to hold down a job of some sort. Way in the future.

Busy week upcoming. I like those. It keeps me off the streets.

Ugly Swim suit

Truly ugly suits on such gorgeous bathing beauties.

Got that off my chest

The ladies in the pool where I do my water aerobics decided to celebrate the end of spring with an "Ugly Swim Suit" contest today. The only rules were 1. you must wear two suits (so we could tell who was entered in the contest) and 2. one suit must be worn inside out. Most of the suits were really thin and faded. A couple of them had linings that were in tatters. Mine wasn't in that bad of shape (yet) so I took a clue from a dress I saw in a thrift shop (Did I tell you about this dress? Floor length, lined, beautiful workmanship with floor length lined coat to match out of 3" squares of double knit. My reaction when I saw it was "Why?").
In the stash at the church were tons of 1.5" squares of double knit. I stitched those puppies together four to six across and made a pass from the neck line in the front to the back neck line. I secured it at front and back neck and at the leg openings with a quick slip stitch and then secured the rest with really ugly buttons. I will take a picture of it later (it is on display now) and post it as an edit. Have no idea if I won but it was fun doing it and very uncomfortable to wear over my good swim suit.

Complaints

I've been very successful wearing my Complaint Free World bracelet since June 5th on the same wrist. That's 21 days. That is a "habit broken".
THEN - I decide to install a little sprinkling system (the Drip watering kind that runs off a hose connection) in my back yard to keep my plants watered while we take off for a day or two. Called around, got a guy to come out and take a look. Easy job, he said he'd run over to the store and pick up the stuff he needs and would be back in an hour. On the way to his truck my upstairs neighbor stops him and asks what he is doing here. I then get a knock on my door with a very intimidated service person and an overly irate neighbor. Seems he thinks I need Condo residents to vote on whether or not I can attach a drip system to my hose bib. *&^%$
It is just like a hose. It is portable. It is removable. It is not an in the ground, dig trenches with a large back hoe type of installation. AND it saves on water. What the...... So I called the president of the association - she's on my side. I looked up the condo declarations and found the item that says (I think) that I should be able to do this. But just to be on the safe side (and since Mr. Congeniality insisted) I typed up a ballot and asked the residents to weigh in on the subject. Had to cancel the installation. Will certainly be able to call him back and have him continue with it but I really have been in a Complaining space all day because of it.
I don't care. The bracelet comes off today anyway.

Complaint Free World

Oprah had some dude (the Rev. Will Bowen complaintfree@ccunitykc.org ) on talking about how he introduced an idea to his congregation. He claims that most complaining is from habit and that any habit can be broken in thirty days. He passed out purple bracelets to his congregation with the instructions - put it on either wrist. When you complain, switch wrists. When the bracelet stays on one wrist for 30 days consider yourself "complaint free".
Well, I emailed him and got a bag full of bracelets. I'm passing them out to any takers. (mainly in my circles). I've been wearing mine for a week. The first two days it switched quite a bit but it now has been on one wrist for 5 days. Jerry says that he does not consider me a complainer anyway, so this should be an easy exercise.

On another vein, Robin sent me her pattern for grocery shopping bags (http://quiltantics.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html) and I have whipped out 33 bags and have sold 13 of them. I am not keeping any of the money since I am making them for our church bazaar. Sure would like to get most of them sold before the November Bazaar because as I was looking through the "Bazaar Stuff" on Thursday, I saw a whole lot of things that I have sewn that has not been purchased. Would hate to have these bags join that lot. (that is not a complaint only an observation.)

What phase of the moon is this?

Yesterday I attended a scheduled meeting for Uma's team. Problem? Uma didn't show. Six people waited in her apartment for an hour for her. Seems she had been there just 5 minutes before I arrived but was upset about one of their friends, talked to the manager about it and he told her to take a walk to cool off. She did. Didn't come back until 10 minutes after the meeting disassembled. We rescheduled for two weeks out. These meetings are State mandated and a royal.....
Jerry & I went out to dinner (I was too mad at her to cook).
When we got home his daughter called and said "Why is Jhary in Sacred Heart ER?" Dang if I know. She was brought in by the police. She wasn't talking. I talked to her on the phone and figured out it had something to do with dinner plans. I called her residence. Mind you, she had been at Sacred Heart for at least 30 minutes probably more and I, as the legal guardian, had not been called by her care providers. The only reason I had found out is because Carrie, working her one day at the hospital, recognised her and called me. I tried to be calm and rational and found out that indeed Jhary had flipped out when she was told there was not enough staff to take her out for Chinese. Their solution to the problem was to call the police and ship her off to the hospital without any staff/explanation. Oh, staff was going to call me in a little while. I asked her to please call the hospital and fill the nurse in on what went on.
Jerry & I took off for the hospital. Half an hour later the nurse comes in and says she had just received a call from Jhary's staff person. (The time lags here are numbingly long). The nurse told the care giver that they really need a different solution to clients outbursts than sending them to the ER. AMEN! We took Jhary from the hospital to get a bite to eat (not Chinese) and them home. She apologized to staff (one accepted graciously, the other acted like a petulant 8 year old and kept complaining about how she was treated by Jhary in this whole event. If she doesn't want to deal with developmentally delayed people and their occasional melt downs she should get out of the business.)
To top off this child centered afternoon/evening, Bob Jr. called. He is back in town. Bought a house on 32nd and Ray. Wants to know how the kids are doing. Wants to be all lovey and "family". Gag me with a spoon. I really do not have any interest in firing up a relationship with him. I'm happy with the people I have in my life and don't really need his problems. I'll tell the kids he is here and let them go from there.
Got my "Complaint Free America" bracelets in the mail. Will hand them out to my women's group this month. Does the above post qualify as a complaint? Guess I had better change arms.

And another thing

Yesterday I went to a sewing demonstration about travel cloths and hidden pockets in the garments presented by the American Sewers Guild. http://asg.org/) The speaker was hawking her pattern making company. She makes and sells patterns with multiple hidden pockets (http://www.saf-t-pockets.com/). Each pattern is multi sized. I bought 4. Have no idea when I'll get around to making them - hopefully before Israel.
Joined the guild. I have no idea what I will be doing in this group. Seems they are just getting going in this area. They were organizing the Spokane Chapter and needed 15 people to join so they could send in the paperwork. They talked about monthly neighborhood gatherings where women got together and discussed what they were sewing etc., sounded like Robin's Quilting Guild (I tried to join a quilting guild here in Spokane but my inquiries were never returned).

June already

My how the time flies.
Did the colonoscopy thing. Jerry had to deliver girls to school at the very time I was due to be examined. They wouldn't start on me until he showed up (as my designated driver) no matter how much I told them that he would be there for me when he finished. Almost had to cancel. That would have been a bummer since I had gone through the liquids only thing and the clinically induced diarrhea. Everything worked out OK. He arrived after my appointment time but they took me back anyway, (because they had had a cancellation), they did their thing and I checked out just fine. I didn't remember a thing from the injection of the third drug to a nurse saying "wake up, Leonna. Keep your eyes open". And then Jerry was escorting me out of the office. I evidently dressed myself and signed my discharge papers (I have a copy of that with my signature on it). I am truly boggled at that - not remembering anything. Came home and slept for about four more hours. Couldn't go to yoga, drug myself through dinner (at Wendy's) and begged off on going up to Carrie's that evening. Next morning I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and off to swimming as usual.

My baby ginkgo trees are not faring well. First we had a hail storm that beat on them then the direct sun that is scorching them and then my neglectfulness about keeping them moist. If they make it through the summer .... The one from last year is doing great.

All my planting is done. Want to get a drip system installed so we can leave for a couple of days if desired and come back to healthy plants.

Nothing much

Such a hectic week - something happening every day last week. Then this weekend ... nothing. We did go out to Jason's for dinner on Friday, only because Tracy wanted me to look over her will and power of attorney. Seems Jerry told her I had legal experience - I don't call being a bookkeeper in a law office "legal experience". Anyway, she filled in the blanks on "wills.com" or some such and it all looked fine to me. Actually, the intent is there and since they don't have any great holdings they should be fine.

Sunday was the same old, same old. My dear pastor came to me 10 minutes before the service and wanted me to be the liturgist - and by the way, could I also help serve communion. I really should dress better every Sunday.

Last Wednesday was our last Project Joy practice for the summer. We start again in September. Sunday was the last Sunday school for the summer. I really don't want to lead another session but who knows how I'll feel in September. Tuesday will be the last Sewing Club session until September. Jerry is excited... he gets his wife back.

This Wednesday I go in for a colonoscopy. That means no food tomorrow, only liquids that you can read through. Had one nine years ago. Guess it's time to get another one. Better than fishing your poop out of the stool and spreading it on a slide. Yuck!

With the new Harry Potter book coming out in July I decided to start at book one and read straight through so I could get everything in order. Just finished book 4. Two more in 6 weeks. I think I'll make it. In the mean time other reading is going down the tubes.
Our trip to the Holy Land brings many documents/brochures/booklets/study guides that I need to be getting to. After Harry in July.

Birthday for Uma

Today is Uma's birthday. She is anywhere from 34 to 40+ . We don't know. My place is so small that I can only have one or two kids here at a time. So I have invited all four adopted kids to dinner at Perkin's. Uma would have like to go to a Chinese place (the Shogun especially) but her husband and mine don't care for rice so I figured Perkin's would suit every one's appetite. Hope both boys can make it. Tyrone said he would walk down. Traivon's fiancee said they would be there too. We shall see.

Well, we had a lovely dinner. Traivon did not show up. I'll have to speak to that boy. Maybe his fiancee did not pass the word. I'll find out.

Was going to take me camera so I could post pictures but didn't so can't.

Today is Red Hat day. We are going to the Garland district to have lunch at the Milk Bottle and snoop in the shops.

Have my garden 1/2 way cleaned up and planted. So many little projects I'd like to do (did I say that?) in there. Thought I'd never ever want to work in the yard as long as I lived. Surprise, Surprise! When things get established I'll post some pictures.

RIP

Marvelous Marvin the Magnificent Mouse catcher passed away over night. He was so cool, he chose the plastic chair mat under the computer to breath his last breath. He loved to sun with Polly and T. J. He taught Polly how to climb the Christmas tree. He gave much love and nearly wore the skin off my forehead with his raspy tongue.His presents in this place is already missed by his people and his fellow felines.

Bloomsday

Sunday, May 5 was the 31st running of Bloomsday, the world's largest individually timed run. 44,000 people signed up. 39,000 finished. I handed out water to over 200 of them. Jessica ran (she was one of the 200 I handed water to). The "Finisher" shirt has a great design this year. I have found, however that the volunteer shirts usually are better. This year they are a tie. I was so tired after standing for five hours that I took naps all afternoon and went to bed at 8 PM.

Jessica sang a great "Hansel" in "Hansel & Gretel" last Friday. Here she is with Gretel taking their bows.

After the show all the Grandkids had to get their picture taken with the star. Clockwise with Jessica at the top is: Chelsie, Josh, and Hailey, Sydney and Casey. Behind Casey is Traci, mother to the three on the right. The kids loved it and each delivered a rose to Jessica after the show (during bows).

Ah, Spring

Spring has sprung. Today we enjoyed a lovely 65 degrees, gentle breeze, blue skies & sun. I was so thrilled I went out and purchased some plants - daisy, columbine, tomato, strawberries. A little ahead of myself because I haven't cleaned up from last year and I need to have a rose bush and a tree removed before I put anything in the ground. Want to get three day lilies to put in front of those ugly gas meters but the shop I was at today only had yellow. I know there are other colors so I'll continue to look. And of course there are the petunias yet to be bought. It will all happen this month.

Korea: What do you know? I emailed the leader of the tour that I wanted out and low and behold he called and the leader of the group going from Seattle called. Both wanted me to reconsider. There is too much water under the bridge now for that. I'll probably have to write the $500 deposit off as a contribution to the Korean missions.

Korea

Well, I've decided not to join the group going to Korea in the middle of May. I have no ticket, no itinerary, no idea of anything that would have made me believe that this trip was really happening so I emailed (will snail mail too) the leader of the group expressing my disappointment with his disorganization and requesting a refund of my deposit. (Think he took it and ran?)

Jerry's daughter's significant other is a body builder. Well, actually he really likes to go to the gym to work out and was talked in to "bulking up" for the local competion. The meet was today. We went and watched the morning preliminaries. He looked gooood. The finals are tonight but they are sold out.

The ladies compete too. UGH! There is one section of girls who prance around in pornographic two piece suits. Then there are the women who take testosterone and bulk up tooooo much. In my opinion, body building is not for women. Good health and good muscle tone is fine, but flat chests, no curves, and bulky muscles are not very feminine.
What say you?

Baby Ginkgos

A lady in Portland, Oregon announced that she had successfully germinated some Ginkgo seeds she had gathered last fall and asked if anyone wanted any. I jumped on the opportunity and replied to the affirmative. She promptly sent six seeds which I dutifully placed on a very (too) damp paper towel in a plastic bag. Two weeks later I took my little nursery to our monthly Bonsai club meeting and two other ladies begged to take a seed or two home to try to grow a Ginkgo tree. So I was down to three seeds that didn't show any promise of germinating. I transferred the seeds (a bit larger than a cherry pit) to a smaller bag with dampened paper towel (sprayed the towel with a weak solution of bleach to inhibit mold growth - which had been noticed in the larger bag) and waited.
Glory of Glories! Seed #1 started sending out a feeler. The other two were cracked but were much slower in sending out a feeler.
As you can see by the pictures, Seed #1 has a lovely stalk with two cute little leaves on top. Seeds #2 & 3 have their little root sinking into the sand and a small stem coming up. Seed #3 is too close to the pot and her little leaf stem is smashed against the pot. I can't move her because the root is in the sand and I don't want to slow growth down (yet).


Thank you, Lady in Portland. I'll keep you posted as to their progress.

Check Up

Got the results from my annual physical. I'm in great health. My Cholesterol (total) is 177. HDL - 53; LDL - 102; Triglycerides - 108. All this because I have cut out dairy in my diet.
(Last year my numbers were Cholesteral (total) 190; HDL 57; LDL 115; and Triglycerides - 90.)
Can we have a "Way to go"?

Driving

After the fender bender (?) of last month, Jerry & I decided to sign up for the AARP driver refresher course. It started today. Most of the info I learned at 16 is still valid except for the "do not tap your brakes if someone is following too closely". Seems to do so now could lead to a ticket because it is viewed as and "aggresive" move. What????? I'm getting sniffed in the tailpipe by some jerk and I can't signal him to back off? The laws that protect the criminal are insane.

I'm Back

Went to Phoenix last week for some R&R. This being retired sure wears you out. Volunteering a couple of times a week and exercising daily and, and, and...

Brian has boasts that his eldest has moved out and is now on her own. However, as you can see, the granddaughter still makes it over to visit quite frequently. He enjoys just sitting and holding her as she sleeps.

I took a tutu down for her first birthday. She looks so cute.

She is a doll. Very sweet disposition. And such a looker. Those big brown eyes and ready smile.

Can you just see an attitude coming? Her mom is just great with her. Good luck Jessica. You are the greatest.

Brian & Francesca are doing well. Thinking of remodeling the kitchen. Adding on to the back of the house. Converting the empty bedroom to a computer room. Redoing the backyard fence. All this takes time. They are being cautious and going one step at a time.

The truck Francesca found on Craig's list is awesome. You need a ladder to get into it but it is tricked out with GPS, tinted windows, leather seats, satelite radio etc,... All there before she bought it. They did get new tires all around but now she feels safe driving on the freeway. Get out of the way ... here she comes.

Brian's Harley is noisy but nice. Very smooth ride. Comfortable "Bitch" seat. Wish I could learn how to drive it. (But Jerry, having laid his bike down, refuses to go near another bike.)

The Knees

When did my body go? Actually I've know for a long time that my knees don't like me doing stuff. Like crouching , they've never liked that. Or squatting, that's always been a no-no. And bending over, they creak at that. But bowling! We used to get along just fine bowling. But wait, that was ... several years ago - when JFK was still alive.
Why bring this up?
Spring break this past week. Jerry's granddaughters have been suggesting (quite often) that we go bowling. So we relented and went to what used to be Silver Lanes, remember Kids? Well lit, smokey, open? Now it is Big Daddy's. Casino, dim lit, smoke free, chopped into gambling dens, the lanes are lit with black light, track lights race up and down the lanes. (It's not your grandpas bowling alley any more.)
After my eyes got used to the dark (and my memories stopped flooding in) we found our way to the shoe rack and ordered the requisite "bowling shoes". They have gone from blah tan and maroon to day-glo yellow/green and orange. (No one is walking out in those). And found a ball that would work (Jerry had to have one drilled out for his paws).
Figure out how to enter our names in the fancy automatic score keepers (no more paper and pencil or even overhead projector thingy) and we are set. Up I go, get my stance (it's like riding a bike, right? you never forget) and begin my approach. Thunk. What's up with these knees? They don't want to get into the lunge position for releasing of the ball. They stop half way there and the ball is dropped. (Gumpa is turning over in his ashes). I adjust. Still the thunk. Not the smooth release like the guy in the next lane was doing but at least I stayed on the wood, was able to pick up a few spares, hit the head pin for a strike and end up with a decent 125. I've still got it! Best score of the afternoon. One game was my limit. Time was when I was waning at the tenth frame of the third game not the 8th frame of the first game. I'm out of practice.
Jerry took my spot for the next line. He had trouble finding his groove (well, the shoes didn't feel comfortable and the ball was stiff - and let's face it, it's been a while since he was in a league). He finally got his approach ironed out and almost broke 100.
I really had fun watching the girls bowl and coaching them - aim your thumb at the head pin, don't twist your wrist, end your approach on your left foot, etc. The girls were able to put in four lines. But they are young. I'm sure we will do this again. Hope next time I'll be able to break 100 again just to show the kids there is still life in this old body.

Subaru home

After a full day of running errands in the Kia on Monday, we returned to a message from the body shop that our Subaru was ready to come home. Naturally, we turned right around and zipped out to the valley to pick it up. She looks so much better than when I left her. The Enterprise lot was just down the road so we dropped off the Kia and took a leisurely trip north to the Outback to celebrate the return of our little car. A dinner that early was just what we needed. We rolled back home and blobbed for the rest of the evening.

Subaru update

Got a call from the body shop that they have the car in "Paint" now and will be putting it back together over the weekend. Hoorah! The KIA is a cute little car but low to the ground and no bells & whistles. I like having my doors open with a push of the button and my headlights come on at dusk. I get spoiled easily.

Subaru pictures

We went to the collision lot to take a look at my poor little car.

This is damage from a 15 mile per hour wreck.

The estimate from the Hartford is $6700.00.

Since Farmers is paying for it we won't know how much it cost until the job is done.

Parts are being ordered and work will begin when they arrive. We are looking at three more weeks in a Kia Rio.

What a Friday

Went to Tyrone's place to pick him up and take him to get his ID renewed. Two and a half blocks from his house a young lady pulled out of the alley right in front of us. Neither vehicle was going even the speed limit (I had just pulled on to the arterial at the corner and she was leaving the alley) but the collision decommissioned both cars. I landed smack in her right front wheel well. My entire grill is gone as is the left headlight area, left fender, hood, and bumper. Her right front wheel looked smushed. She is fully insured and no one was hurt. So now it is just the inconvenience of driving a rental and jumping through the insurance company hoops. I wonder if my car is going to be totaled or fixed (Jerry wants it totaled – me too, I think). Repaired collision vehicles, especially in a front end situation with 4 wheel drive don’t come out well, do they?

The young woman in the other car was only 20. She is working two part time jobs and going to school. Her dad just spent some bucks getting her mini Blazer mechanically sound. She knows he will be pissed. Her mom tried to comfort her. She thinks she will have to quit school to pay for the repairs. (Her mom said they would talk about that.) Although it technically was her fault (failure to yield to traffic on an arterial) she really could not see around the parked mini van at the alley. I feel sorry for her and her stress right now.

Jerry’s daughter came and picked us up. We dropped her back at work and continued on home. Later we picked up a rental and delivered her rig back at her work. Things worked their way through the various lines and we will come out in the end just being inconvenienced.

So, Tyrone did not get his ID, we did not get to go to lunch, I did not get to go shopping for the Red Hat party tomorrow and I’m driving a compact KIA for a while.

Saturday doings

Went to the Corbin Senior Center Health Fair yesterday. (No, I'm not really old enough to hang out with old people - lol). There were lots of vendors for senior services - you know, like hospice, Alzheimer’s care, cremation services, medical appliances. Each vendor offered a raffle type give away item - baskets, foam pillows, gift certificates. I entered every one (50 in all). Didn't win a thing. (But my name is on 50 vendor's mailing/calling list now so I should get lots of unwanted action.)

Then we went to an open house for the Spokane Potters Guild. We were early so didn't see any demonstrations. But they offered a free 15 pound of clay or a hand made coffee mug to the first 30 people through the doors. I took the mug. I am becoming more and more enthralled with pottery lately. First the chili bowls, then the crane vase now the coffee mug. Jerry has asked a couple of times if I was thinking of taking up that art form. I don’t think I am that creative. What, I can’t even visualize myself making a dumb bowl? Nope. These pieces are beautiful. Maybe I’m enthralled with the glaze. Look, it’s a whole new learning curve. Maybe later.

When we found out that they offer classes but not to grandchildren type we bade our adieus and went up to the Boyd Walker store where summer sewing camp for girls will be held. We had Casey, Jerry’s 10 year old granddaughter with us. She has been resistant to taking a sewing class but was very enthused when I suggested the pottery class. The Boyd Walker store was open but the summer class teacher was not there. We looked around, talked to some of the people sewing there and then scoped out the fabric store next door.

System overload. That store is small but it is jam packed with gorgeous fabric and quilting ideas. Casey wanted to jump right in and sew something right then and there. (Actually I think she just didn’t want to go back home and spend the night with her dad while her sister was at a sleep over with a friend.)

Before we took her home we stopped at another pottery place. They have ongoing classes for all ages and will probably be able to fulfill Casey’s needs. This will be a summer vacation project – even though she wanted to be signed up immediately. We need to coordinate schedules with other activities, mom’s and dad’s vacation plans and of course our availability to get her there.

I feel blessed to be able to assist Jerry’s grand daughters in their growing up years. We are less able to assist his son’s kids as they live 30 miles away from us. And I really am sad that I am missing out on my own grand kids growing up. I really do appreciate that my kids blog with pictures of their kids. It helps me watch them grow.

Crane Vase

Went to the Spokane Potter's Guild fund raiser last Saturday and fell in love with this vase. I didn't have my checkbook with me and they couldn't take plastic so I told them that if it didn't sell to call me. It didn't - they did. It is fired using the RAKU method which leaves very interesting colors throughout.

The front has a crane and the back has cattails.

Jerry wanted to rush out and pick up some flowers to go in it but I couldn't see any that would fit. Then I read that I can't put water in it and should use a liner if I wanted to use it as a flower vase. I think it looks great with nothing in it. Maybe later I'll get some dried natural stems to put in it. For now it is just glowing all by itself.

Piggy Year

To all my little grand-dragons, be on the lookout for a Piggy Year envelope.

Happy Piggy Year

The Chinese Community of Spokane put on a culture event today at the community college. Jhary and I went.

The littly kids in their red outfits were adorable.

I liked this kids "Pake" hair.

They didn't have a Dragon. Instead they had the people dance around. We were both disappointed.

Kun He Fat Choi!

Sewing

Went to the church today for my weekly little sewing group. All by myself for about 10 minutes, then the church secretary comes in and wants to know if I can help her on Excell. She has taken a couple of classes but can't find in her book how to .... So off I go to fix her layout problem.
As I'm leaving the office a volunteer from Rogers High School's drama department comes in and wants to run some costume designs by me to see if I can work on them with her. They are putting on "Through the Loooking Glass" on March 28th and she needs 50 costumes. Things like a mouse in a raft, Caterpiller on a toad stool, The Queen of Hearts, a Turtle. Quite elaborate things.
As we are discussing designs (the kids are responsible to see that their costumes are made - she just helps them get their act together), in walks the widower of the former Sewing Room Queen. He has had his daughters pack up all the wife's things and wants to know where he can put over 30 boxes of stuff - probably over half is sewing stuff. He has no idea which box contains what. That will be fun to sort through. Anything we can't use in the sewing room will go into our rummage sale. He will just have to stack it in the corner. ( lol )
Then a lady from the Women's Hearth (a drop in center for the down town women - some mentally ill, some developmentally delayed, some just plain poor) came in with three pairs of pants that she needed hemmed. "Go try them on so we can see where to cut them off", and back to the costume designs.
Between pinning the pants and talking to the costume lady, in walks one of the regulars (normal woman) with her little boy. She starts setting up and getting her son settled in on his little projects.
Lastly my skitzoid lady comes in. She wants to cut a sweatshirt down the middle and put a facing down either side of the front. I cut the sweatshirt. Showed her how to pin the fabric and set up the sewing machine for her. She was lost - couldn't figure out how to operate the machine at all. Mind you, she has been in the room several times before and has on occasion sewn, albeit with a lot of help from me.
By this time I really had my hands full. The costume lady took the skitzoid lady under her arm and fixed the sweatshirt just the way she wanted it (Thank you Costume lady!!) and she left.
Time was running out so I finished up two of the three pairs of pants for the first lady. But I had to bring the third pair home (it is a pair of lined pants and I do want them to look good for her - but finding the time in the next two days.....).
Didn't get a whole lot of my project done. But I guess that's not what I'm there for. Sure made the day go quickly.

Hawk

OK. I get it. Increasing "Her Deductible" does not mean increase Her insurance. I still think it is a poor advertisement.

This morning we had a new visitor to the bird feeder. It appears to be a hawk of some sort. Closest I can figure it is a Cooper's Hawk. Wish I could have gotten a better picture of it.

What do you think?

This is billboard is situated on a much traveled (by me) street here is Spokane. I was irrate when I saw it yesterday. Had to remember to bring my camera today to take a picture.

What lamebrained advertising exec. could possibly think that this was in good taste? Why should females need more collision insurance? Aren't the rates for male drivers higher because they are a greater risk?

Guess we are still in 1950 here in Spokane.

I know you are in there

As you can see, I finally found the pictures I have been taking and that were hid on my new computer. I've moved everything to areas where I can find them readily.


This is not my cat.

We have been feeding the birds all winter. Side bar to that is that we now have a cat that is feeding off the mice that are feeding off the seeds the birds drop. Isn't nature wonderful.

Damn

Took some pitures with my new camera. Figured out how to get them on my computer. Can't find them when I want to post them to this Blog. Drat! Guess I'll have to read the instruction manual. I hate that. Mainly because manuals never tell you exactly how to do what you are trying to do.

Passing of the Keys

A few years ago our quilting group at church was a thriving circle of women who met every Wednesday under the watchful eye of Charlotte. Charlotte suffered from arthritis and osteoperosis. It became increasingly more difficult for her to get to the church to sew. As the groups activities dwindled, I took it upon myself to wonder if I couldn't use the area they met in (on off hours) to invite the downtown ladies in to use the sewing machines.

I called Charlotte, leaving messages on her answering machine, and got the answer through her husband that it would be fine with her. I called again and asked if I could get the keys to open the cabinets where the sewing machines are stored (again on the answering machine). Her husband brought the keys to church and I had copies made.

The group hasn't met for a year now. But my little group of downtown ladies meets every Tuesday. We are forming quite a fellowship.

Charlotte died last Monday. At her funeral her dear husband gave me her keys to the sewing room.

Found Money

You know those shows that tell about the state holding unclaimed money. They direct you to a website where you enter your name (or anyone's name) to see if you are on their list. Well, I did. First mine - nothing. No surprise there. Then I entered Jerry's name. Two hits. I printed off the directions on how to get the money (one was for between $25 & $50 the other was for over $50). Jerry complied with the required paper work - proof of where he lived in high school was one - and laughingly told me that I could keep anything that came of this exercise.
In the mail yesterday came a check for over $2,000.00. I squealed. He looked dumbfounded. He said I could pay for the trip to Phoenix. I agreed. After all, it really was his money.

Computers

When I whined enough to get my laptop outfitted for wireless, the process "fried" the desktops' Ethernet card (or so we thought). So we limped along using my laptop as the house work horse until it started behaving oddly. Time to call in the Geeks on Wheels. Our Geek came in, plugged in the Ethernet cord and my desk top responded by hopping onto the internet (it wouldn't do that for me).
Next move, download the iTunes program - done in a thrice and try to load my new 30G iPod with the music disks that clutter my shelf. Over one hour per disk. Hmm. That doesn't seem right. Play the iPod. 6 seconds of this song, 10 seconds of that. Definitely not right. (And my sound card is malfunctioning).
Call the Geeks again. They said it was probably something to do with the CD reader disk drive, thingy. No problem, just pop it out and put in another one. They would come out on Tuesday.
Enter Jerry. "NO WAY! If this thing has been giving you this much trouble (I just haven't been able to load a program on it for a year, not that much trouble), we'll just have to buy a new computer."
Looked on Dell's sight. Much confusion. I was used to seeing/hearing about gigabytes. Now they have T-bites (I translate that to Tril-a-bites cause it's trillions instead of billions - but then why do they say giga, it should be billa. But I digress.) and flat screens (I don't need a new monitor) and why does one cost this and the other cost that? What's the difference? Called Brian to have him help me sort it out. Told him what I was looking for. He said he would research and get back to me.
He got back to me all right. "Your new computer will be delivered on Friday". He just up and bought me a new computer. I'm stunned, joyful, pleased, awed, teary eyed. It's great when your kids do nice things for you. I didn't mean for him to purchase it for me, only research. Guess he feels it an honor that I would ask and since he can afford this small luxury, he just did it.
Thanks, Brian.
Now I will be able to load the program disk for the new camera and sort through that program. I'll get the iTunes thing going and not have to listen solely to podcasts. And hopefully, not have to buy another computer for several more years.

Learning Curve

The cute little camera that Jerry bought will take pictures through our tinted window. I had to read the owners manual to figure it out. There is a lot of information in those little books. It just takes time to "get up to speed".
And now Jerry went out and got us each an IPod. The little instruction manual with it is less than a page and not all that helpful. We bought an "Ipods for dummies" book. Jessica is in town and will be able to help tomorrow. Until then I'll be reading and trying to comprehend what it is saying.
Brian says it's a snap and I shouldn't have any trouble doing it. He forgets this brain is older than his and it takes a while to get things to sink in.

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful time of year!
Yesterday, all the beautiful music at church. Lovely dinner with 1/2 of the family here. Opening of presents with some grand kids. Great evening service. Love all around.
Slept in this morning. Have the evening meal in the oven awaiting the other 1/2 of the family.
Jerry got me a new camera - 7.1 pixels, small, light weight. Great for upcoming travels. Down side - it doesn't take pictures through our dining room windows, so I have to use the old camera to take pictures of the birds at the bird feeder. Got a great shot of Marvin (on our table)watching a Flicker sitting on the fence outside.
I got Jerry a new DVD of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." He was truly surprised with it. Seems his previous one "broke" - actually, I think he thought he was watching it too much and destroyed it.
Just talked to Robin. Her whole family is down with Strep. Ugh! What a way to spend Christmas.

Hope all is well in your part of the world. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Tuesday

Almost done with the Christmas preparations. Have to shop for two family dinners and finish a quilt.
I used the iron on batting and didn't look at the back very closely. Stiched in the ditch on the cross wise sashings and discovered that I had a monsterous buckle in the back fabric. So out comes the ripper.
Jerry bought me a new camera for Christmas. I haven't loaded the software to download from it yet. I'll get to that after I finish ripping out the quilt.
I'm planning on going on a Mission trip to Korea in May. Sent in the down payment today. Will update you more as time draws near.

Cell Phones

StillSuckin'Air related a couple of stories of "women" talking on cell phones while driving. He naturally notices when the driver of a vehicle is female but I digress. My comments are to the obnoxious use of cell phones by all ages and both sexes while driving. Have you not been in your car at a red light and counted the number of people driving with half a brain while talking with the other half of their brain focusing on the phone conversation? It is unreal. Commute traffic is the worst. Breadwinners (notice I didn't single out boys or girls) hurrying to work, to school, back home, yacking. Some states are seriously thinking of banning cell phones while driving. Hmm. Doesn't work for drunk drivers or people who have had their licenses revoked. What makes them think that putting a ban into law will stop the practice? Maybe slow it down for those of us who give a _____ and don't want a ticket. But the majority of cell/drivers will take the chance that a cop is not in the area and go ahead and dial that number.

The lost is found

Found my Keys!!! They had fallen out of my pocket while I was seated in Genevieve's car. She called me this morning with the good news. Not before Jerry went to the hardware store and had a new house and car key made. We needed a spare set anyway.

Keys

Today we needed two cars. I had a Project Joy performance and Jerry had to pick up the grand girls - both at 3 PM. So, he dropped me off at Genevieve's and she drove me to the performance. He continued on with grandparent duties.
I know I had my car keys when I went out to the car because I opened the doors with the remote. I then put my keys in my pocket and used his keys to drive us to Genevieve's (Jerry doesn't like to drive unless absolutely necessary.)
It was a good thing that Jerry's duties got him home before me because when Genevieve dropped me back at home after the performance I had no keys. So I should pray to St. Anthony? Is he the one for lost items?
Seems to me there is this little ditty "Tony, Tony yada, yada, yada" . Oh, well. It is just inconvenient.

More birds

Some feed has been kicked out of the feeder. Since there are over 30 birds they wouldn't all fit on the feeder anyway.

The cats love to watch them. I couldn't get TJ to look out the window until I said "bird" it cat.
The sparrows have discovered the bird feeder. I fill it in the morning and by afternoon they have scarffed up two cups of seeds. We purchased a suet feeder today so that the larger flickers will have something to eat too. The sparrow either have not found it or don't like it.

Birds

While decorating the house for Christmas today, I glanced out the window to find two flickers trying to get a snack from our bird feeder. There was a small sparrow on the feeder and the larger bird chased it away.

These birds are quite large for our feeder. Guess I'll have to get a bigger feeder for these bigger birds. But then I'll attract magpies and crows. MMMM better rethink that.







Wish you could see the front of this bird. He really is quite handsome with a red turtle neck under his dark sweater.

Time sure goes by when you're having fun

There was nothing on the calendar for this week. Why then did it go so fast?
I started a quilt for Josh (see his cute little face in last weeks blog below). It's just a simple nine patch with fire helmets and dalmation dogs. I decided to put a fire related embrodery on all the connecting sashing squares. Had a great time picking them out & downloading them from the web. Figuring out where each would go. Deciding how to quilt the squares etc. I am on my final three embroidery squares and the fabric flips into the embroidery design and gets stitched in. Only someone who does machine embroidery would understand. Anyway, I stop the stitching when I discover it and commence to remove that square from the quilt. I'll redo the design, cut the square and reinsert it into the sashing. One more flame and a small fire truck and I can start looking for backing.
All this work because Josh's dad has applied to become a fire fighter. He is a member of the volunteer FD/Rescue Squad. For over three years he has dutifully taken every test they require from aptitude to physical. He has come out on top every time. Last year he was in the top ten. (They weren't hireing). This year he was at the top of the list and he was sure he was a shoo in. All the right hoops. He got his rejection letter two days after Thanksgiving. My theory is that he is either too old - 40 - or too white. I hope Josh will still like the quilt even tho his dad's not a firefighter.
Hope to get the tree up tomorrow. Have a dress to sew for Jhary and probably one for Uma too. But other than that I'm only sewing with the sewing group I've started at the church.

End of the day

Had a wonderful afternoon with Jason, Tracie and their family.

Tracie is a great cook. We not only had turkey but she prepared a lovely ham, too. Thanks Tracie it was great.

This is a picture of Josh and Hailey wearing the PJ's & Nightgown I made from fabric I found in Hawaii. I guessed right on the sizes, whew.

I taught the kids how to play 9 up. I don't think we played enough hands for them to really get the strategy of the game. Oh, well. Next time.

Time for a nap.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We are going to Jerry's son's house today for the Feast, so I spent the morning sewing. I had promised our Puppeteers that I would sew "Wise Persons" costumes for our three church puppets. That was three weeks ago. I was reminded yesterday that the puppets will be performing seven times in December and having a "dress" rehearsal Saturday. Yikes!! I whipped out three little Kingly robes this morning. Have to figure out what to do about crowns. One puppet is a "Cone Head" so she is a bit of a challenge.

Jhary spent the night last night. She is so quiet and doesn't need me to entertain her. We pick up Uma and Donald in about an hour. I'll take a pumpkin pie, a cherry pie, ice cream and almond roca (made with crackers - really quite good). I have always enjoyed going to Tracy's home as she is layed back and a fun person.

Listened to Christmas carols all morning. The season is upon us. Enjoy!

Old

You know you're getting old when you buy Sympathy cards in bulk. Three this month. They're dropping like flies.

Sunday already

My gosh! Where did that week go? Let's see....
Today we had our monthly Bonsai meeting. (We have to rush after church to get there.) They had a slide presentation of various Bonsai collections. Some in WA DC, Pennsylvania, Tailand and China. Every time they came to a Gingko they remarked about it. Guess I'm the only on in the group with one.
Yesterday was Red Hat Meeting. We had a lovely luncheon in the home of our Queen Emeritus and played bingo for a while. Came home to Uma trying to talk to Jerry. He figured out she was upset. I figured out it was because Donald had gone to a friends house and stayed the night. She didn't care for that. Because of the Apple Cup we were asked to babysit Jerry's granddaughters. They saw that I was making sleep wear for their cousins and decided that they wanted to sew some for themselves. I had enough flannel for one girl but not the other so we had to go to Joanns and get some more for Casey. She wanted border print like I found in Maui but we had none here in Spokane. We'll deal with it.
Friday I finally went to the Dr. about the itchyness in my eye. She determined that I did not pick up anything while in the crawl space but gave me a Rx just incase.
Thursday was Admin Board for the church. Had to leave early because with early dismissal at school for conferences, we have grandparent duty for a week. Hung the curtains I made of Casey's room. Went to see the Civic theatre's production of Mame.
Wednesday was sewing class, a performance by the Project Joy group I'm in and yoga. That makes for a very full day.
Tuesday I should have sewn but didn't. Met with the girls in my Spirituality Group. What a wonderful group. I'll tell you of them sometime.
Monday was our Evening Fellowship group (a small group of United Methodist Women). Since it was my turn for the Program, I invited Lynda Bowen my yoga instructor. We spent a heavenly 45 minuts learning relaxation tech. and giving mini massages to eachother. (I think that was a hit).
A week ago after church I attended the Interplayers production of Moon over Buffalo. A kick.
Gosh. I guess I have been busy.

Saturday

We have a not too tall crawl space under our unit. You can't stand straight up in it but you don't have to get on hands and knees either. Previous owners have installed a small forced air gas furnace and an airconditioner down there and I figured it would be a great place to store our "extra" stuff. Jerry's son installed a couple of hanging from the floor joist shelves and I have been meaning to start hauling bins of stuff from the storage shed (which only Jerry can get into because of the security door he installed) down to the more easily accessible crawl space. Today was the day. I took three bins of Jessica's music down and a bin of my summer cloths and a bin of "sewing room extras" (you know the kind of stuff you don't want to get rid of yet but don't have room for on the shelves).
While down there I noticed that the gas furnace exhaust pipe was loose. I mean this pipe went to the exterior wall where there is another pipe of equal size going through the foundation. The two ends of the pipe are exactly the same size. How did anyone expect them to connect? There was NO coupling attached to either end. With my great knowledge of "this old house" episodes I trotted off to the Hardware store and explained my dilemma to the man and he fixed me up with a PVC coupler and some cement. Back down the hole and tried to glue the pieces together. Well, PVC and gas pipe, although each has a 3" opening are different thickness of pipe - PVC being much thicker. The fitting would not fit (too big). But I had already applied glue so couldn't take the fitting or the glue back. Second trip to the Hardware store, this time with the section of pipe that goes through the foundation (it slips in and out quite readily). "OH! You need this kind of coupler" says the woman who helped us - didn't see the guy around at all. Got the rubber sleeve with the strap around it that you have to screw to tighten and the tool (not a screwdriver like I have a dozen of at home, but a 5/16" wrench jobbi on a screwdriver handle).
Back down the hole. Fuss, fuss, fuss. Have to work over my head, everything by Braille as there are pipes going in front of my line of sight, but it is done. My dad would be so proud of me. It is now quite sturdy all the way back to the furnace. I even stuffed some insulation around the pipe to keep beasties out of the crawlspace.

Went to see Flushed Away yesterday. A great movie for kids (and kids at heart).

computer woes

I got it in my mind that I wanted wireless access so I could be in my sewingroom and be able to access the web on my laptop, so Carrie's significant other came over last night with a Wireless-G router and commenced to install it. Should have been a 15 minut thing, right? Wrong. In the process some how my desk to blew out it's web card. Dave spent hours on the phone trying to find out from Comcast tech support what to do. He finally hooked Jerry's laptop directly to the internet and called it a night. He will be back this morning to finish installing the wireless router. In the coming while we must decide if it is worth getting our ten month old desk top a new web card (I'm for it - Jerry is not).
We have the most bad luck with computers. Jerry just bought a new lap top for Jessica in New York and Carrie as she is starting a PHd program soon and needed capacity, speed and reliability for her program. And then the computer we bought in January of 06 acts up.
I don't want to use the lap top as our "home" computer because it doesn't have spider solitair.
Whine.

Thursday

Granny would be so pleased. Tomorrow is her birthday and it is snowing today. She loved snow and looked forward to having the white stuff fall on or before her birthday.