A Day in the Life

Ann and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

2009-04-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Looking on the bright side, I don't often have these days anymore. I used to feel like they were a weekly occurrence. -The kind of day for which this blog is named. You all know the feeling, I'm sure. Hanging on by mere fingernails-the only thing saving you from the bottomless chasm below. Wednesday, unfortunately, was a by-my-fingernails, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

It all started innocently enough. On Wednesdays I attend a meeting at our church in the morning where the calendar is planned and then I make any changes needed to the master calendar. Just as an aside, before I started doing this, I had absolutely no idea how seriously church leaders take the calendar. It is a BIG deal. Anyway, since the car dealer is only about three blocks away, I had made an appointment to take the van in to get this really annoying creaking fixed. Something is wrong with the seal of the sliding rear door that makes it creak loudly and sometimes constantly while it is closed and the van is in motion. So I dropped it off, walked to the church and attended the meeting. During the meeting, my cell rang. I politely excused myself and took the call. It's the dealer with the news that they weren't able to duplicate any problem noises (OF COURSE NOT!) and what they are hearing is just normal noise. -I am telling you, it is NOT normal noise. I can only guess that the van decided to behave for the short period of time they were road-testing it, because if they had heard it at its worst, they would have immediately fixed it. I arranged to pick it up when I was finished and will take it back without an appointment on a day when it is especially obnoxious. Annoying and unproductive, but nothing earth-shattering yet.

About a half-hour later, the meeting is over and I'm still at the church making changes to the master calendar in the computer when Devin calls. Evidently, the shower head in the master bath of our house in Florida had sprung a major leak the day before, flooding the area under the vanity, inside the wall and seeping under the wall to flood the dining room on the other side. That would be the dining room where we have laminate flooring, virtually impervious to everything BUT water! Although Devin handles most things to do with the house (financing, property manager, bills, renters, etc.) he wanted me to handle this because I'm more familiar with our house's mechanics and up-keep (construction materials, drywall repair, painting, etc.). So I embarked on an afternoon-long marathon of calls between me, Devin, the property manager, and the guy from the water damage company who is at the house estimating the damage. To make a long story short, this little shower head snafu is going to end up costing about $1500-2000 - and that's if the laminate doesn't have to be replaced. Luckily, there is no mold growing inside the wall so that is one headache averted. I need to add here that the reason Devin handles most of these issues is because I get really stressed out over them. This was no exception. I was feeling faintly nauseous by the time everything was settled.

BUT WAIT!! There's MORE!!

By now it was almost dinner time and here I was with no dinner started. I pulled one of my emergency meals (tortilla soup - YUMMY) out of the freezer and stuck it in the microwave to begin defrosting. I wanted to get SOMETHING useful done for the day so while it was defrosting, I pulled out a ham I had cooked the day before to finish carving it up. I had just put it out on the counter, pulled out a knife, and MAYBE sliced one or two pieces when Dylan came back from playing at the neighbor's house. I could tell immediately that something was wrong, so when he bypassed me, saying "nothing" was wrong, and headed to his bedroom, I dropped everything and followed. It took me less than five minutes in the bedroom to find out that his arm hurt, he'd been jumping on the bed and fallen off, nothing else was wrong, etc. His arm hurt just above the wrist and there was only a tiny bit of swelling but when I pressed the bone on top of his arm up toward the elbow, it still hurt at the wrist. Yup! Broken arm - independently confirmed two hours later in the emergency room.

Joke of the day

2009-04-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this the other day and I just had to share. Which of us with children hasn't been here at least once?

Daddy's sudoku quilt

2009-04-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

This was the only Christmas present that didn't get done on time last year. It's a lap quilt for my dad, who loves to do sudoku puzzles. In this pattern, fabric is substituted for numbers, making a sudoku grid out of colors. I lost count of how many times I checked this to make sure I hadn't twisted a block - the equivalent of screwing up a sudoku writing in pen - except I wouldn't just throw this out the way I could if I screwed up a written sudoku. I also did numbers in trapunto in the single blocks in the top and bottom borders. I was able to give it to him in person when we visited last week. He loved it, which makes me very happy.

Dylan and scissors - or - Dylan and pictures

2009-04-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

Dylan has a thing about scissors. I'll never forget the day I picked him up from kindergarten and was met by his teacher, wearing a grave look on her face. He had capably ventilated the school t-shirt I had just gotten for him the day before, reducing it to rags with those blunt paper scissors they use in kindergarten. On the bright side, that must have taken a lot of determination, something I definitely want to encourage. On the not so bright side, he then had to save his money to buy a new t-shirt, which I know was a huge disappointment for him.

Dylan also has a thing about pictures. If we are going to get pictures taken, he is almost guaranteed to draw a boomerang with a Sharpie on his forehead, fall and give himself a shiner or do something else to make it seem from photo evidence as if he is horribly abused and neglected.

Two weeks ago he decided, in a moment of inspired brilliance, to marry his two passions by taking the scissors to his own hair without the benefit of a mirror, cutting off his bangs in big hunks. He did this the day before school pictures. When I asked him why he had done it, he readily informed me his bangs had gotten too long. When I asked him why he didn't get me to trim them, he didn't have an answer, but I suspect it must be a source of great joy to him to leave me speechless, which happens way too frequently. The way he's wrinkling up his forehead here makes his hair look lumpy, but not too short. However, he cut it SHORT! I ended up just leaving it alone because he would have been left with an exposed hair line by the time I got it blended.

Needless to say, that's one set of pictures I won't be ordering.

Movie review - Monsters vs. Aliens 3-D

2009-04-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

For those that are interested, I thought I would review "Monsters vs. Aliens 3-D", which we saw while we were in Montana.

First of all, the boys loved it. My parents, who had never been to a 3-D movie, were extremely impressed, too. I, however, am a little more jaded. That's probably a result of having had a year's pass to Disney World, the mecca of special-effects entertainment.

The 3-D that was on the screen was fabulous. I think it probably had the most depth of any 3-D movie I've ever seen. It was consistently good throughout the movie, too. However, there was very little that came off the screen into the audience. I think "Voyage to the Center of the Earth 3-D" was better for that kind of effect. Also, I was a little disappointed with the writing. Some of the animated movies are so clever that they are a joy to watch again and again. "Fern Gully", "Shrek", and "Monsters, Inc." spring to mind. This movie was entertaining but, if it hadn't been for the 3-D, I think it would have been totally forgettable, blurring into the mass of animated movies most parents of young children end up watching. I left feeling disappointed, because it could have been a really great movie. It had 3-D, good animation, big budget, good premise, etc. In the end it just fell a little flat.

Spring Break/Memory Lane trip

2009-04-01T19:10:00.001-07:00

Well, we did end up going to Montana last week for spring break. I'm always hesitant to go this time of year because it's still cold but it can also be muddy and all that goo can freeze, making driving conditions really treacherous. There are two pretty high passes to go over in Idaho - Fourth of July (3173ft.) and Lookout (4725ft.). We were fortunate (and we had checked the weather) on the way over and the passes were clear and dry. So the drive over was uneventful - just the way I like it.

This is the sign at the bottom of the hill where my parents live: For the first several years after we moved here (I was in second grade), there were only two families beyond this point. There was us and there was a neighboring family who lived about 1/4 mile away over a hill. We both lived to the right, the road to the left was a largely unused, rutted, logging road. The area right behind the sign is where we had a pasture for my first horse, Twister, an 18-year-old palomino gelding. There was also one spot in particular that was the best place on the property to dig up worms for fishing. Now there's a sign to keep track of everyone and it's almost like a neighborhood in town. Most people can see at least one other house from their driveway. It got too crowded for my parents down below, so they moved farther up the mountain. They're still the last ones on the road.

It was a fabulous way to grow up. I wouldn't want to move back now but I really regret that my kids can't grow up "free-range" the way I did. In the summertime we had to be back by dark (around 10:30pm) and take the dog (to chase away bears). There were no worries about human predators because for miles behind our house it was all forest service and logging land - we only rarely even saw other people. We knew how to find our way down the mountain if we ever got truly lost, but we never did. We knew all the logging roads, abandoned cabins and landmarks for miles around.

Because there were so few people, there was lots of wildlife. We saw bears quite a few times. My parents even have a bear skin rug on the wall that killed three of our pigs before my dad shot him. After that the Fish and Game believed my parents when they said we had bears (before that they had told my parents that there were no bears that close to town) and F&G would come out to trap and relocate them. There were the occasional mountain lion, skunk, moose, and elk - more often we would see signs of them or hear them (or smell them in the case of the skunk) than actually see them. There were also coyotes, birds and lots of deer. One of my clearest memories is going to sleep on a warm summer evening listening to the coyotes yipping.

Anyway, the boys love it up here. They get to run wild for at least a few days, although I do insist they stay within sight of the house so they don't get lost. This week, they spent 1-3 hours a day just playing in the snow. They also got to see a decent assortment of critters. This flock? gaggle? idiot? (Okay, I looked it up. It's a rafter of turkeys... and that would've been my next guess, lol.) of turkeys was crossing the road as we drove up the hill one afternoon and the tom was clearly daring me to MAKE HIS DAY! I was really excited but my dad hates the turkeys. He says they're dumber than rocks and crap all over everything to boot. I still think they must be smarter than he thinks because they know enough to make themselves scarce around mid-November.

We always see lots of deer but this one was a treat. This picture is taken through one of the windows at the front of my parents' house. The windows are reflective enough that the animals can't see us inside the house and this deer was close enough to pet at one point (assuming we could somehow reach through said glass).

Anyway, we had a great time. The boys were very well-behaved - believe me, that is never a sure thing and I do NOT take it for granted, I got to visit with my oldest friend (in years of friendship - 30+) and my parents got to spend some time with the boys before we move this summer. It almost makes me wish there were another spring break between now and when school ends so I could do it all over again.

For crafters/quilters

2009-03-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just read on a friend's blog about a new website. It's a spin-off of the "You Can Make This" website, which has a lot of articles and cute projects. The new site is going to be called... drum roll, please... "You Can Quilt This". It's going to be up and running sometime in April and, as part of the effort to get the word out, they're giving away a Janome sewing machine. If you're interested and want more information, just click on the blog button below and page down a little to the post from March 19.

Small quilt for auction

2009-03-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Every year the quilt guild I belong to has a small quilt silent auction at the quilt show in August. Members can make a small quilt/wall hanging and donate it to be auctioned. In return, those donating quilts have the opportunity to suggest a non-profit agency to get the proceeds from the auction. One is picked at random and that non-profit gets the proceeds from everyone's small quilt. It's normally somewhere around $500. This is my quilt for this year. I'm hoping that my non-profit, HANS (http://www.helpautismnow.com/?page_id=22), is chosen. It's based right here in Salem, Oregon and their mission is to provide doctors and other health care professionals with materials and training to help diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) earlier. Having experienced a grueling three years trying to get Dakota properly diagnosed, this is something close to my heart. We had medical professionals suggest diagnosis ranging from emotionally disturbed to sensory integration disorder to poor parenting to auditory processing disorder. - And yes, the poor parenting diagnosis hurt. That doctor (a psychologist) only worked under that theory for a short time until he knew us better and had seen enough interaction to realize it was not poor parenting, in spite of first impressions.

Not a single one even mentioned autism until we got to the Child Development Center at USF, where he was seen and tested by a developmental pediatrician, a clinical psychologist, a school psychologist, and a neurologist. Then they all got together and their joint diagnosis was the first one that truly made sense. It just shouldn't be that hard! In hind-sight, the warning signs were there for anyone who looked if they had any training at all in recognizing ASDs. And with ASDs now affecting 1 out of every 150 children, this isn't some exotic disease that a doctor might never encounter outside of a text book. Anyway, I'll be hoping really hard that HANS gets a little extra boost in funding this year to carry out its mission, courtesy of the Oregon Coastal Quilter's Guild.

Newest member of the family

2009-03-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Both the little boys have been nuts for these little stuffed animals called Webkinz for about a year now. You buy the animal, then go online to "adopt" it at the Webkinz website. Then there are all sorts of games you can play. You have to feed and care for your pet, send it to classes, work to pay for things, build a house and furnish it, etc. You can also send other Webkinz owners gifts and pre-written messages. About 5 months ago Devin got one so he could play games with the boys online. I half-jokingly said that I would have to find a horse before I could join them, so Devin got me one for my Valentine's Day present. This is Kady. It really is fun and unlike Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Bakugan, and WWF figures, I can actually get into this. You log on and your Webkinz greets you with a little heart, saying she's so happy you've come back to play, she loves you, etc. It's the kind of unconditional love and validation we mothers never get until our kids are grown and moved away (if then), leaving us all alone with our gray hair and panic attacks. So, hey, I'll take it where ever I can get it.

Oregon Winter Beaches

2009-03-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

We frequently go to the beach in the winter. I actually enjoy the beach here more in the winter than in the summer.

First of all, we love the agates. The winter storms pull all the sand off the beaches and areas that were nothing but sand in the summer turn into rocky morains. There is a beach just south of town that we like a lot and the first time I visited last year in the winter, I had to convince myself it was the same beach. There was absolutely NO sand, just tilted basaltic rock strata with the occasional pebble bed. This is a different beach, but I'm guessing that the rocks jutting up through the sand here aren't even visible in the summer.

Agates (made of quartz) are lighter than basalt and most other rocks, so they tend to "float" to the top of these pebble beds. Last year our family Christmas gift to ourselves was a rock tumbler. It takes about a month for agates to tumble and our rock tumbler operated non-stop for about 8 months last year. A few months off for good behavior and it's up and running again now. When we get a batch tumbled, we all gather round the kitchen table and take turns picking our favorites, a process which lasts about an hour each time because there are a couple hundred rocks in each batch. Other favorites besides agates are green and red jasper and petrified wood.

Another reason I like the winter beaches best is that they are mostly deserted, even on stunningly beautiful days like this. Now, even in the summer, our beaches aren't what anyone would call crowded - you might only see a dozen people if you go during the week. But in the winter, you'll only see a handful of people at most in an hour or two.

On stormy days, the waves are awesome. You truly understand what is meant by the term "force of nature" when you stand on the beach and watch the enormous waves crash on the shore. Just listening to them gives me a thrill. I'll try to get some pictures and blog the storms another time but I don't have any great pictures right now. On areas where the waves hit cliffs, the spray will sometimes shoot up 30 feet or more, filling the air with a salty taste a football field away. Although the waves weren't spectacular on this particular day, it was still pretty fabulously beautiful.One of the things I'll miss most when we move is the beaches. I know that sounds funny to say when we're moving to Florida, renowned for its summer beaches, but it's true.

Kicking the habit

2009-03-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

My husband, Devin, is fantastic. He's smart, funny, kind, and totally hot. ;) He's a patient, loving father and a considerate, loving husband. There is almost nothing I would change about him - and I'm putting this in writing even knowing that he'll probably use this statement against me sometime in the future. However, he has one bad habit that drives me bonkers. I've tried everything to get him to quit - nagging, guilt, lectures, bribing (hey, it works for the boys), and threats (teasing that when he goes on oxygen, I'm taking half and leaving), but nothing worked.

...Well, make that - he HAD one bad habit. He quit smoking two weeks ago today. He had been scaling back but finally went cold turkey. I know you don't get to be an ex-smoker until a year after you've quit, but I'm pretty confident he'll be able to stick the landing. I am so excited about this. On the plus side, I can kiss him before mouthwash, there's a better chance he'll outlive me (and yes, that's a big one for me), the boys won't pick up the habit from his example, his clothes don't smell like a bar anymore, etc.

On the negative side, I no longer have any leverage - hey, the value of leverage should never be underestimated in a marriage - in spite of the fact that the current financial crisis has almost made it a dirty word. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe that's the REAL reason he quit - to take away my leverage. And yes, it IS all about me. Here's what I mean about leverage: When talking about my bad habits, I can no longer blithely take the moral high ground because smoking trumps everything else. Or when we go over the budget and he's teased out all my quilting expenditures (admittedly a shocking total), I don't get to ask where the line item for his cigarettes is. However, in spite of my regrettable loss of leverage, I think we've all come out way ahead on this one. WAAHHOOOO!!

Devin's quilt

2009-03-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

In all my quilt-making the last three years, I have yet to make a quilt for Devin. I've made several for each of the boys, one for the guest room, a half-dozen for charity quilts, one for myself to watch TV under, and several to give away as gifts. I keep telling Devin to pick out a pattern or colors or style or something for me to go by, but he hasn't. Instead he sits, convulsively shivering, on the other end of the couch after drinking a Slurpee or eating ice cream, casting me pathetic sidelong glances, until I relent and let him have my quilt. The one I picked colors, pattern, and style for to suite only myself.

So I, like most quilters, have this overflowing basket of scraps. -Odds and ends left over from any number of projects. Last fall I decided to just randomly piece some of these scraps into blocks and make a quilt out of them. Partly this was because the scraps are literally overflowing and ending up on the floor. Partly because I had a few small orphan blocks that I wanted to use before they got tattered. And I guess, if I'm totally honest, it was also partly because starting a new project seemed much more attractive at the time than completing any of my numerous on-going ones. Anyway, the result is this quilt which I finished binding about a week ago.
For a lap quilt, this is enormous. It's about 50x70, which is almost twin size. It's the first quilt I've made that doesn't have a specific destiny. So for now, it's Devin's TV quilt. And that basket of scraps...STILL overflowing.

Last gasp

2009-03-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

One day last week I got outside to drive the boys to school (it was drizzly and COLD) and found this on my windshield:It was ice - probably 1/8-1/4 inch thick. It had been raining all night and it was just cold enough to freeze when it hit the windshield.

I used to have an ice scraper. It saw lots of service in Washington, D.C. It was used several times every winter. It even got used in Houston. However, when we moved to Florida and I was switching vehicles, I tossed it. After all, I could say without a doubt that I would NOT need it anytime soon in Tampa, where once or maybe even twice a year, people tuck in their landscaping plants with blankets when it might drop below freezing for -GASP- several HOURS!!

Driving through our Tampa neighborhood, looking at all the plants lovingly tucked in for the night, I couldn't help but think of growing up in NW Montana, where it wasn't really considered cold until the thermostat was registering double-digit, negative numbers and plants that didn't survive the frozen winters on their own were quickly replaced with something a little more... well... low maintenance. Needless to say, I never tucked my plants in while we were in Tampa, but I must admit that there were a couple plants that got replaced that first winter, which was fine with me.

Anyway, back to my poor iced-in van... and me with no ice scraper. For the last seven years (five in Tampa and two here) I've used a card (driver's license, credit card, etc.) to scrape the frost off my windshield. It was a bittersweet moment as I whipped out my trusty FL driver's license to clear the windshield (after the heater had had a little time to work). I couldn't help giggling a little as I thought about the fact that FL driver's licenses in general probably don't often get this kind of abuse and this is probably the very last time mine will be used for this purpose.

Big News

2009-03-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been really quiet lately. It's a combination of two factors. First, I was STILL having computer problems. It had gotten so bad that I dreaded turning the darned thing on. I sent it back to them in early February and they supposedly went over everything with a fine-toothed comb and sent it back to me, finally working.... Until about three weeks later when it crashed for good with absolutely no warning, losing about 100 pictures (and yes, most were destined for blog posts) but little else since I've gotten so paranoid about backing everything up.

Tech support still wanted to "help" me troubleshoot, but I balked, refusing to do any of those things I've already done on previous calls to tech support, insisting instead on a working computer or a full refund. Without too much fuss, they sent me a new hard drive. That's the good news. The bad news is that I've switched back and forth between computers so many times in the last couple months that I'm exhausted just thinking about doing it yet again! Reinstalling, downloading, updating, syncing, oops, wrong file, uninstall, etc., lol. I'm just computer-literate enough to get myself into lots of trouble.

Second, the really big news - is that we found out about three weeks ago that we'll be moving back to Florida this summer instead of next. Devin's orders got moved from a report date of mid-February to a report date of December 1. I normally start gearing up for a move six months out but we're already at four months and counting on this one. I've been just a little stressed but have made significant progress on my list of items normally completed by this time.

Spring Break

2009-03-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

This week is spring break for us here on the central Oregon coast. Devin and I had planned on taking the kids on a trip down to San Francisco to sight-see for the week. We had such a good time there last fall that we thought it would be fun to do the kid stuff, too. Well, best-laid plans and all that....

Devin's boss asked him back in February if he would go on a trip, which has been planned for two years now, to trouble-shoot and organize, since it's the first mission of its kind. He's really good at things like that. It's a tremendous compliment and, ultimately, a career boost, that he's been chosen for this. Sometimes I wish he were no good at his job, and this is why: the big trip is this week - spring break. SO... no trip to San Francisco. Which probably means we won't ever go, since it was less than two weeks later that we found out just how limited our time here is. AND, even more good news, I get the kids all to myself for spring break - all NINE days. Devin leaves today and won't get back until next Sunday.

So I've decided to take the boys and go visit my parents in Kalispell for a couple days. I don't know if my parents will make it back out here before we go and it's a long trip from Montana to Florida, so it may be a while before the kids get to see them again. Wish me luck on the drive. I'm always afraid that someone may not make it alive on long road trips - probably me!

Those wily leprechauns

2009-03-20T16:08:00.001-07:00

Leprechauns run amok at our house on St. Patrick's day every year. The milk is invariably turned green: -which isn't a problem until you try it on cereal:

Then, believe it or not, you simply cannot keep yourself from tasting mint, even though no mint flavor is actually present.

In years past, we've had green scrambled eggs (don't ask me how the little buggers got past the shells), calendars turned to the wall, shoes in the laundry basket with the clean laundry, and many other mischievous reminders that the little people are just waiting for their day. Monday night I slaved for hours over a perfect batch of Rice Krispy treats. Imagine all of our dismay to find this waiting for us on Tuesday morning:

The Leprechauns win again!! Rematch next year.

We've been flocked!!

2009-02-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

Devin mentioned last night that the boys should really leave a little extra time this morning before school to check out our new lawn attractions. Evidently, in between the time we got home from Portland around 6:00 and when we went to bed at 10:30, we were "flocked". Devin assumed someone from his work had done it as a joke because the last place we lived was Florida, which is the state most closely associated with flamingos.

When I read the note attached to the "alpha" flamingo (the one closest to the door), I realized it is part of a fundraiser for two Newport girls to go to Washington D.C. as local representatives of something called People to People. The way it raises funds is that we have to pay to get rid of them! Then they go on to a person of our choosing who, in turn, pays more go-away money. Of course, we can also buy "insurance" so the flamingos won't come back. I think this is pretty funny and very clever.... Devin just raised his eyebrows non-committally.

These hot-pink flamingos are a shocking sight in our yard, not only because they are stereotypically trashy lawn ornaments, not only because flamingos clearly do NOT belong in Oregon, but because there is such a glaring contrast between our current lusterless, overcast day and this garish neon-pink flock of birds, one of whom is resting in a BUSH???

I have to admit this made my day.

A.C. Gilbert Discovery Museum in Salem

2009-02-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday we left Portland and traveled south to Salem, which is on the way back to Newport, to visit the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Museum

(http://www.acgilbert.org/). We had never visited this one but had heard good things about it. It was well worth the stop. This is really two activities in one.

First, there is the inside. Believe me, the insides should never be undervalued in a rainy climate like Oregon's! There are three buildings with quite a respectable offering of daily life type activities (a pretend grocery store, stage with costumes, skeleton manipulatives, crafting with re-purposed trash, etc.). Here's Dylan, the intrepid explorer, posing for the camera in the stage room. My favorite room of all was the bubble room. There were dozens of ways to make bubbles, including the bubble circle curtain that the kids stood in the middle of, and the bubble wall, shown here, with Dylan blowing into it.

Dakota and Dylan, although they enjoyed it, are getting to the upper limit of the age to be interested in most of the things inside - but younger kids would be hugely entertained for hours.

As nice as the inside is, it is the outside that puts this place over the top, though. They have one of the most extensive and well-thought-out play areas I have ever seen. There is the music room:

The spider web: The "cell" that can be explored from the inside out:

There is also a paddle wheeler, many paths and tunnels connecting it all, benches in the middle for exhausted parents, and, best of all, this humongous, multi-level maze with slides on the back side to zip down on.

Dakota and Dylan spent about two hours zooming around, playing hide-and-seek with Devin, who frequently pretends not to see them in order to make the game even more exciting for them. He's such an awesome dad!

OMSI

2009-02-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well, we decided last Tuesday - last minute as usual - to head up to Portland for the three-day weekend. Our main purpose was to visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). I consider this to be the best children's museum I have ever visited, although Seattle comes very close, if only for the butterfly house. What makes this one so great is that almost everything is hands-on, which is especially great for boys, so many of whom are kinesthetic learners. In addition to the exhibit halls, there is an IMAX theatre, a planetarium, an awesome science store, and temporary exhibits (this time it was Da Vinci).

When I was in grade school, a group from my school came to Portland every year for a basketball tournament. There are several things we did every time, one of which was to visit OMSI, so I have fond memories of coming here as a child. My clearest memory is of the Gravitron. It's one of those things where a little metal ball rolls on one of several tracks until it gets to the bottom, at which point it is hoisted back to the top to start down all over again. As you can see, kids are still fascinated with it and, I must admit, even as an adult I can sit and watch it for several minutes without the slightest feeling of boredom. Dakota and Dylan sit for at least five minutes and watch it every time we visit.

OMSI is so densely packed with activities and exhibits that, even though we have visited at least half a dozen times (and I want to say closer to ten times), we still haven't done it all. Dylan always heads straight for the paper airplanes and bridge building area, frenetically testing everything that catches his eye as he races through the main exhibit hall. Dakota still hasn't really gotten past the Chemistry lab, robotics, Physics lab and ball area, all of which are in the first two-thirds of the hall.

Dylan and I spent a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday making various paper airplanes, which we then tested in the "wind tunnel" and aimed at a target to see how accurately they flew. We kept the best of them to show off for Dakota and Devin back in the hotel room. Dakota's reaction was, "HUH, I never knew they had paper airplanes! Where are those?"

Here's Dylan in the robotics section trying to move the circle to the other end of the metal tube without being beeped (when they touch each other).

I highly recommend OMSI to anyone in Portland with children middle school aged and younger. When they get to high school age they don't want to do ANYTHING with their parents, most of all a lame educational museum. For everyone else, this is definitely one thing not to pass up.

JUST SAY NO!

2009-02-14T09:54:00.000-08:00

"Hi, my name is Ann, and I'm a yesoholic."

"Hi Ann."

"I've tried to get clean and stay clean before but I always fall off the wagon."

"We've all been there. And you're here with us now. That's what counts."

"I used to be a volunteeraddict but I kicked that habit cold turkey. Been clean almost two years now."

"Congratulations! That's a tough one."

Okay, you guessed it, I made that up. But if I could find this group, I would join in a heartbeat. I imagine it being called Spineless Unpaid Chumps Anonymous, or SUCAs (suckers? get it?) for short. Seriously, what is it that makes me raise my hand without a thought, jumping up and down and screaming, "PICK ME!!"? I like to help out but it's drastically cutting into my nap time.

I "yessed" myself into a big project for my quilt guild. I had a self-imposed deadline to finish it by last night and didn't quite make it. I had one or (gasp!) both boys home with the flu all last week, among other things. However, I am now spitting distance from completing it - should be easily finished early next week. Then I can get back to napping...I mean housework.... Okay, okay, I'll actually be sewing and blogging again. To quote a friend, "If I can't use the vacuum once a week, I'll just use the leaf-blower once a month." Words to live by! It's nice to be back.

Happy Valentine's Day

Sleep talking

2009-02-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

Last night, as I was laying in bed trying to find yet another comfortable position that would allow me to actually fall asleep, I heard Dakota start to mumble in his sleep.

I have to mention here that all three of the boys talk in their sleep and I've read that there is a correlation between this and sleep walking as teenagers. With David, it sure was true. He sleep walked A LOT! The most memorable time is when he thought the kitchen trash can was actually a similarly purposed bathroom fixture. Let's just say he lifted the lid - for which I am very grateful.

Anyway, Dakota was mumbling in his sleep. I heard "Mumble, garf, pfluble. Can I save?" (He's talking about saving a video game.) The last was said loudly and just as clear as day. Imagine my amazement when I heard Devin, who had been asleep for about two hours at this point, reply "mmm hmm" in between gentle snores.

Devin doesn't believe that this actually happened, but it was all I could do not to wake him up shaking the bed I was laughing so hard - very quietly.

Swallow the frog first...

2009-01-16T09:38:00.001-08:00

I got an email a couple months back that contained a story along the following lines:

Imagine that you have a rewarding and comfortable life except for one thing. In exchange for this life, you have to eat a frog every day. From the time you wake up, the thought of this unwelcome task is always in the back of your mind, draining your energy in ways you don't even fully realize. The solution to this problem is to swallow the frog first!

So, that's become my number 1 New Year's resolution. I'm swallowing the frog first! Every day, I've been trying to pinpoint the one thing on my to-do list that I most dread doing. That item then becomes the first thing I attempt to resolve. I have to admit that this simple change is working amazingly well for me. Even things that have seemed like huge problems have, for the most part, been solved by 10:00 in the morning, leaving me free to enjoy the rest of my day. It's only two weeks into the new year and I've swallowed all my on-going "big frogs". Now I've just got a handful of tiny ones to work on.

Wish me luck, warts and all.

Kiva

2009-01-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

When I was in college, I was an Asian Studies major, which meant taking several fascinating classes on development of third world countries. In one of those classes, I learned about Grameen bank, a micro-lending bank in Bangladesh. Back in the 70s, the founder loaned a very small amount of money ($27 each) to a couple dozen poverty-stricken families. The money was primarily loaned to women because, it was reasoned, women have the most stake in improving the lot of the entire family. Most of these families were able to use the money to dramatically and permanently improve their standard of living. Almost all the loans were repaid on time and now, three decades later, Grameen Bank is huge, still lending to the poorest citizens of Bangladesh. I had seen extreme poverty before (as an outsider in Mexico) but still was amazed that such a tiny (to my way of thinking) amount of money could have such a huge impact.

Fast forward twenty years. About once every four months, I catch an episode of Oprah. I love the show, but it's not on at a convenient time for me and I don't love it enough to commit to watching it in its recorded incarnation. About a year and a half ago, I happened to tune in and learned about Kiva. Kiva is a non-profit organization that matches micro-lenders (you and me) with people in mainly third-world countries who need micro-loans (in most cases, a few hundred dollars). I can go to Kiva's website and lend money in $25 increments to people who have applied for loans for various purposes. (The entire $25 goes to the loan with no fees taken out) My $25 joins the $25 loans from other people until the entire requested loan amount is funded. So far I've made nine loans, four of which have been paid back and five of which are in the process of being repaid. As one of my loans is repaid, I just lend it back out to someone else. I love that I can be personally involved in making the earth a better place for some of its least fortunate inhabitants. Rarely is a loan not repaid and, if one of mine ever isn't, I will know that that $25 is probably needed a heck of a lot more by the person who has it now than it is by me.

A Kiva volunteer made the following video if you'd like more information:

http://www.vimeo.com/2769845 This video lasts about 10 minutes and follows the money as it's loaned by a group of people in London, travels to the Kiva offices in San Francisco, and then goes on to the intended recipient.

Or, you can visit their website http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=home.

Oops - make that the top eleven

2009-01-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

In yesterday's top ten, I omitted something that should definitely have been there. Devin and my anniversary! We have been married 13 years as of last week. He didn't even make any comments about it not making the top ten - which means he didn't think about it. Because if he had thought about it, believe me, he would have said something ;). On one hand, it's hard to believe it's been that long, but on the other hand, it seems so right that I can't imagine a life other than with him. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Here is my all-time favorite picture of him as a little boy. He looks so much like Dakota sometimes it's almost scary.

And another, more recent, picture. Although this one is about 5 years old and he's a little scruffy, it's still one of my favorites because I find myself smiling back every time I look at it. I love you, honey. Happy Anniversary!

Hellloooo

2009-01-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm shocked to realize it's been WEEKS since I've blogged. Even Devin has made a comment or two. So, in the interest of catching up in the shortest amount of time possible, here is my top ten from the last three weeks.

1. David - it was wonderful having him home. His girlfriend, Kimberly, spent a lot of time over here so we got to know her a little better, too. She really is a nice girl. I made cinnamon rolls twice because of special requests from the two of them. Everybody else really enjoyed them too, of course.

2. Gingerbread - David and Dakota paired off against Kimberly and Dylan in a gingerbread house building contest. I helped with Kimberly and Dylan's in the beginning because they couldn't quite get it structurally sound (the short set of walls was on the inside to begin with, which made the roof not fit, then the walls were falling over, then the roof kept sliding off - the smack-talk was hilarious). David and Dakota were clearly the winner in part one - construction, but Kimberly and Dylan held their own in part 2 - decoration. They might have done even better if Dylan hadn't wanted to eat all the candy instead of use it on the house. Then they each decorated their own gingerbread man, ahem, person - which were all gleefully eaten immediately after this picture was taken. It's always struck me as pseudo-cannibalism to eat cookies shaped like people - most often headfirst - all the while making little screaming noises. Those sound-effects only happen at my house, you say? Oh, well. Notice how Dylan's is absolutely covered with stuff? He couldn't wait to get at it!

3. Weather - like everyone else in the Pacific Northwest, we had severe weather the last couple weeks. Here in Newport, that meant that of the last week of school before break the kids only went for 1 whole day and 1 other day with a two-hour late start. Talk about messing me up with the whole last-minute-errands-before-the-holiday thing.

4. Weather - I know, I've already listed this once, but it deserves special recognition here. I went up to Portland on December 23 to pick up my in-laws, Ed and Kathy, from the airport. A trip which normally takes just under 6 hours took me 15 hours to make. Yes, that included putting on and removing chains, being stuck behind a snowplow moving 3 mph and sitting in a miles-long traffic jam waiting for a major freeway ramp (205 to 5 south) to reopen after an accident. I drove all night, leaving home at 5:00 pm and getting back at 8:00 am, just in time for Devin to go to work. I kept thinking about the fact that 15 hours will get me to Kalispell, Montana, three states away, where I grew up. Instead, I just went to Portland and back, never even leaving the state.

5. In-laws - mine - Ed and Kathy came for a nice visit. It was pretty relaxed and I think we all had a good time. It was unusual, however, to be frequently setting the table for eight people (including David and Kimberly), instead of our usual four.

6. Christmas - a good time was had by all.

7. Wii - we got one!! I'm not normally into video game platforms, but I also received the Wii Fit and it totally rocks! Our living room turned into a tennis court, gym, yoga studio, race track, bowling alley, ski slope, etc. I felt like we needed a sign-up sheet and time limit because EVERYONE wanted to play ALL the time. Our New Year's Eve party consisted of all of us, including kids, staying up and playing Wii games until midnight.

8. Pitas - I have to make pitas every month or so and had been out of them for over a week. I used to be able to buy them in Florida, but the brands they carry in the store here taste just awful! I get such a kick out of how they puff up like whoopie cushions.

9. Everyone leaves and I can breathe - I love having company, but I love it when I have the house to myself, too. My in-laws left on Saturday, January 3, and David left on Monday, January 5. January 5 is also when the younger boys went back to school. So, last week went like this: Monday I took David to the airport, Tuesday I met with my monthly sewing group, Wednesday I volunteer at school, Thursday was our monthly Quilt Guild meeting, Friday I got to stay home and veg! This week I'm back in the swing of things, getting set up for the year ahead. Yesterday I read the 50+ blog posts I had missed over the prior couple weeks. Today I'm posting (Yippee) and will be caught up again (even bigger Yippee).

10. DRUM ROLL.....computer - I am STILL having problems. I called tech support this morning and they are sending me a box. They will take it all apart and (hopefully) figure out what's wrong. I've already backed up everything to my old laptop (I hope!!) and this will only be a minor glitch (I hope).

Those are most of the high points from the last couple

weeks. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to an even more awesome 2009!

David's home for Christmas!

2008-12-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

David flew into Portland Saturday evening to spend Christmas break here with us. Since it was so soon after Dakota's birthday, we made a day of it. We took off about 10:00, getting to Chuck-e-cheese in Portland just in time for a late lunch and several hours of games (I, as usual, bailed in favor of Fabric Depot - my idea of heaven). Then we made a quick stop at Sports Authority for wrestling shoes for Dakota before picking up David at the airport. We rounded it all off with dinner at Red Robin, which is everyone's (except mine) favorite restaurant. Devin and I had talked about spending the night in Portland to visit the zoo and take in Zoolights. However, the weather was supposed to turn snowy/icy/cold/nasty over Saturday night and into Sunday. So we scrapped that plan and headed home after dinner. Good thing! The drive was a little snowy on Saturday evening but it wasn't too bad. It was snowing here a little on Sunday but nothing really stuck. Then Sunday night it let loose so school was cancelled today (and I was really counting on these last five days before the boys are out for Christmas break). The boys got to go sledding (all three of them). It's so nice to have David home for awhile.

I think I've mentioned before that we really love Newport (population 10,000) but there really isn't anything in the way of shopping any closer than Albany (an hour away). We are really fortunate to have a Wal-mart (NOT a Super Wal-mart, mind you) which people come to from all up and down the coast. So when people come to visit and we need to pick them up at the airport, I don't look at it as a 6 hour round-trip drive (which it is), I look it as a shopping opportunity. If I ever get tired of Fabric Depot (as IF!) there's IKEA, Macaroni Grill (my favorite restaurant), and gasp! malls - lots and lots of malls. Luckily, I'm not a "shopper", although Devin will confirm that I can occasionally spend money with the best of them. These infrequent trips to Portland pretty much take care of any need I have to shop.

Happy Birthday to You...

2008-12-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Dakota turned 10 today. He's growing up so fast. I know, everyone says that about their kids... and they're just exaggerating. I, on the other hand, am merely being honest.

For the first couple birthdays he had carrot cakes (at his request). Then, when he was about four, I made this pumpkin cake and he's never asked for anything else since. I've made this for his birthday every one of the last six years. I love it because it's a "fake" recipe (you just add a couple ingredients to a cake mix) but it turns out so yummy no one believes you don't have some secret family recipe for it.

His big gift this year was a digital camera. He's been begging for a nice one of his own (he and Dylan have been sharing a very inexpensive one) and we hope he is responsible enough to take care of it now that he's TEN!.... Again, he's growing up so fast.
Happy Birthday, Dakota. We love you.

Wie treu sind deine Blatter

2008-12-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

We finally got our tree decorated. Got the tree on Sunday, decorated it on Wednesday. Not bad, huh?

I have a thing about Christmas ornaments. I get a couple new ones every year. Many of our ornaments were made by the kids through the years but most are one-of-a-kinds that remind me of places I've been and things I've done. The first one I got 20 years ago while I was pregnant with David, so I have quite a few now. I have a Mele Kelikimaka (1991) snowflake from Hawaii, a Santa with paintbrush up on a ladder (2001) from the first Christmas we lived in a house we owned, a Waterford crystal ornament (2003) given to me by a friend who I always think of when I hang it on the tree, etc. I can tell the story behind almost every ornament I have. I date all the ornaments somewhere inconspicuous and every time I touch them, I'm flooded with memories. I reached a milestone about five years ago when I had enough of "my" ornaments to get rid of all the generic glass balls.

This year I got two new ornaments. The first is from when we went to Seattle for a week over the summer. This was the first trip we took as a family that wasn't to visit relatives. We spent a week in Seattle and had a really good time. This proved to us (Devin and I) that trips with the kids are possible without significant hair loss or divorce. Believe me, before the trip, we had serious doubts about whether we really wanted to attempt 8 days in such close quarters with our demanding offspring.

The second is from our (Devin and my) trip to San Francisco. I had been looking the whole week but hadn't run across anything I wanted to add to my collection until the last day. That day we were in Chinatown and I saw these in the window of a shop. There were all different origami creatures inside glass ornaments of various sizes and shapes. I chose a red crane inside a square ornament.

I love walking around our tree and just looking at all the ornaments and remembering where each of them came from.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

2008-12-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

We finally got our Christmas tree last Sunday....in the rain. Growing up, this was something I remember always doing the day after Thanksgiving. We had to do it that soon because if we waited much longer we would likely be trudging through several feet of snow looking for a tree. This is the view from the front of the house at Christmas last year. There were about two feet of snow on the ground.We lived up on a mountain and owned 80 acres covered in trees so we always got one out of our "yard". My father would take my brother and I out to find a Charlie Brown tree. That's one of those trees that are squashed flat on one side or just really sad in some other way. If we brought home too nice of a tree, my mom would be upset because she wanted the nice trees left alone to grow big. - Flat on one side was the best because the flat side would fit nicely up against the wall and that way you would never notice it.

Anyway, our neighbor (the same one who is a tuna fisherman) has a tree farm in a town called Siletz about 30 minutes away. It's quite a different experience for me to go to a tree farm. Not only is the scenery totally different, but we look for a "perfect" tree on purpose. It was drizzling heavily as we left home but we kept hoping it would stop raining once we got a little further inland. Nope, it didn't stop until after we had gotten the tree. As a matter of fact, it stopped just after we got in the car to head home. Dylan, who evidently was worried about melting, chose to wait under shelter while the rest of us tramped around looking for that perfect tree. We did find a great one and took it home to wrestle through the front door. It takes up the entire living room but it's wonderful having a Christmas tree again. We've spent so many recent Christmases at one or another of our parents' houses that we haven't had a tree at home in about five years now. It's not decorated yet, but it smells heavenly.

Things I've Done

2008-12-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

I totally stole this off this blog: http://michellesidles.blogspot.com/2008/12/stole-this-list-of-things-done-from.html . However, she gave permission and she stole it from someone else in her turn. Anyway, I thought it was a neat list. It makes me think of all the things I still want to do - and several I have absolutely no desire to do - bungee jumping and sky diving leap to mind.

Things I've Done (In Bold)

1. Started my own blog (is this just to make bloggers feel like we're accomplishing something?)

2. Slept under the stars (growing up we slept outside quite frequently - just threw a sleeping bag on the lawn - we had to keep the dog with us to warn us of bears)

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii (actually lived there for four years)

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than I can afford to charity (no, although I'm sure Devin would tell you I do....frequently, lol)

7. Been to Disneyland/world (both, and actually had season passes to Disneyworld three years ago when we lived in Florida)

8. Climbed a mountain (not Mt. Everest, but yeah)

9. Held a praying mantis (offloaded it as quickly as I could, too)

10. Sung a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched lightning at sea (although in Florida - where 345' is the highest point in the whole state - when the lightning starts, smart people head for the car)

14. Taught myself an art from scratch (not quite sure of this one. Since I've become an adult I've learned wheel-thrown pottery, scrapbooking, and quilting. However, I had help, even if it was only someone knowledgeable to practice with)

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (it was closed the only time I've been to New York)

18. Grown my own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train (and in train stations)

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitchhiked (hope my parents don't read this one)

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort (growing up in Montana, snow cities would be more accurate - we would have a whole tunnel network under the berms on the edges of the driveway.

25. Held a lamb (raised one for 4-H one year)

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (been to Venice and rode a water bus, but didn't have the money for a gondola ride)

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise (mostly on the mornings where I hadn't gone to sleep the night before - saw it over Haleakala Crater on Maui once - talk about on top of the world)

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (I'm a mutt, I think I've visited 2 of the 10+ countries where my ancestors were born)

35. Seen an Amish community (I really want to do this)

36. Taught myself a new language (again, did I sit in a room by myself and learn it by osmosis, no, but I did learn Mandarin Chinese by choice as an adult)

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke (okay, it was New Year's eve - enough said!)

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa (in the top ten on my bucket list)

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had my portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (was in Rome and saw St. Peters and the Vatican, but no money for the Sistine Chapel unless I gave up food for the day or my bed at the youth hostel that night.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (both, snorkeling is my favorite)

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud (did I mention I have boys?)

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China (another top ten on the bucket list)

57. Started a business (I'd count my stint as a Creative Memories consultant, but it was really just a way to get scrapbooking stuff cheaper for me and my friends)

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check (I was very young...."but how can there be no money, I still have checks")

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (I can't remember one - all I remember is favorite books - some of which I still have)

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades (can you believe we lived outside Tampa for five years and I never went to the Everglades?)

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (rafting it is another thing on my bucket list)

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had my picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club (started two!)

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Rode an elephant (rode a camel once, though)

For a total of 53 plus a couple near misses.

Exposing Santa

2008-12-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

Conversation in the car on our yearly pilgrimage to see Santa:

Dakota, "Can we turn around? I forgot to bring paper."

Me, "No, honey, we can't go home. Why do you need paper?"

Dakota, slightly whiny, "I want to get Santa's autograph."

Me, "Why do you want to get Santa's autograph?"

Dakota, "To see if he's a suspect."

Me, "What do you mean, suspect? Do you mean an impostor?"

Dakota, "Yeah, that's it, an impostor!"

Dylan, giggling excitedly, "Yeah, then we can get it next year and check for differences."

Dakota, "That's what I wanted to do!"

DO YOU SEE NOW WHAT DEVIN AND I HAVE TO DEAL WITH??

Teaching Dakota to sew

2008-12-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

The boys have both been begging me to teach them to sew. However, I know better than to try to teach them both at the same time. I would be playing yet another variation on my least favorite game, "Which one do I love more?" (For an explanation of this game, see halloween-scare-i-couldve-done-without.html) One would be cutting himself with the rotary cutter while the other pierced _______(pick an appendage) with the sewing machine needle, probably repeatedly! And that's just the FIRST scenario that comes to mind! Give me a minute and I can easily come up with a dozen more! Today, however, I had the perfect opportunity. While Devin took Dylan to the skate park, I helped Dakota choose a project, some fabric, and sew it up. He had a really good time and was extremely excited by his finished item, a steno notebook cover. He loves notebooks, keeping careful tally of who wins what game on game nights. When Devin got home, he exclaimed over and over that he had sewn this all by himself and even made Devin watch him sew for awhile. - I dare you to try to imagine anything more boring than watching someone else sew.

I even got to do one for myself. I've been meaning to do one for weeks but haven't had a chance. They are from a tutorial at two wacky women if anyone out there is interested in a really fast, easy project. (http://twowackywomen.com/files/notjustanothernotepad.pdf). This just might be what the teachers get for Christmas.

Wrestling

2008-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

The boys had their first wrestling match last night. Dylan wrestled last year and is one of those kids you just think of as a wrestler. He's all wiry and muscular and loves to be physical but will probably never have the size for a football player (I think he'll top out just under 6', as opposed to David, who is 6'5" at 19). He really enjoys wrestling, although I think part of the attraction just might be that Evan, his best friend, also wrestles, so they get to practice together and they have way too much fun.

This is Dakota's first year. I didn't think he would want to wrestle in a million years because physical contact is just not his thing. When he was a toddler he would sometimes throw himself on the ground screaming that I had hurt him when I tried to hold his hand in a store! It's called sensory defensiveness (oh, if I had only known that at the time) and occupational therapy helped but he still isn't what you would call a physical kid. However, he really enjoys the conditioning part of the practices and it's so good for him that Devin goes so he can help out with the practices in general and Dakota in particular. Dakota doesn't have a good feel for where his body is in space so he tends to have a very narrow range of motion. Here he is, "crouching" at the beginning of the match. This was his first meet ever and, although he was quickly pinned in both matches, he is still enthusiastic, which is a good thing.

Dylan did really well. He pinned his opponents in both matches and won his bracket. So now he has one of those pin-on medals attached to a ribbon to add to his two trophies (from Pinewood Derby and football). He was VERY excited and plans to take it to show-and-tell next week.

Pow-Wow and Potlatch

2008-12-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Dakota's class studies a new topic in depth every month. September was dinosaurs, October was rocks and minerals, and November was all about Native Americans. Each of the students chose a tribe and had to do a research report and project on their chosen tribe. Dakota chose the Acoma (a Pueblo tribe). Since this is his third round with the report, he did really well, flying almost totally solo. We only helped with final editing and formatting.

For his project, he made these tiny items. The spear, bow, and arrows are toothpicks. He also made the little clay pot and beaded weaving because that tribe is known for those things. Other students' projects included models of villages, basket weaving, or small tepees.

After all that hard work, the kids got to have a pow-wow today. I asked Dakota what he was supposed to bring and, after first saying he didn't remember, and then thinking about it, he said he was supposed to bring the tablecloth. I thought it was a little odd that a pow-wow would require a tablecloth but he was pretty definite so I made a special trip to the store to get one anyway. The next morning, when I told the teacher I had the tablecloth, all she said was, "hmm, interesting". Dakota was supposed to bring a BLANKET to sit on! and FOOD to share! Luckily we live close enough that I was able to get home, grab some food, and still get back in time. The kids all sat on blankets with others in their tribes and told a little of what they had learned to visiting classes (3 classes at different times). They also shared food like carrots, sesame seeds, dried fruit and nuts with each other. They all did such a good job and I was so proud of Dakota. I just never quite know what to expect when he's the center of attention. Sometimes he acts up or he freezes. Not this time, though. He made his presentation and even thought of an Indian name for himself on the spur of the moment. Small Pig, as he shall henceforth be called, got quite a few laughs after announcing that name.

Tomorrow they will have a potlatch. Dakota will take some of our tumbled agates from last year. Everyone brings something and then they will all gift each other with their "wealth". I've said it before but it bears repeating. I really like Dakota's teacher.

Salmon season at last

2008-12-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

This morning when I walked out the door to take the boys to school, I noticed that my neighbor had caught a salmon. - I always notice because he hangs them on a tree in his front yard while he unpacks and cleans up. This is the same neighbor who is a tuna fisherman during the summer. He says he fishes for tuna to pay the bills so he can fish for salmon when they're in season. Anyway, this was a BIG salmon. Probably not big as far as big salmon go but definitely big as far as fish hanging from trees go. It was almost four feet long from head to tail. It was only about 8:00 in the morning and, aside from admiring his dedication in getting up what must have been insanely early to catch this fish and hoping it would still be there when I got home so I could take a picture of it (it tickles my funny bone to see a fish hanging from a tree), I paid no attention to it because the boys are barely on time to school most mornings and this was a typical morning.

By the time I got home, the fish was gone. But as I passed by, my neighbor poked his head out the door to let me know he'd left a present for me on our porch. I immediately told him about how he is our favorite neighbor but he just laughed. Actually, he IS my favorite neighbor but I probably would have said so right then even if he weren't. He'd set aside a yummy (and huge - this is on a dinner plate) piece of the fish for us.

We all love salmon. I buy it in the store when the craving gets especially strong but only get wild salmon - the farm raised kind just doesn't compare. When we lived on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound (has it really been more than 10 years!?), Devin would catch Silver Salmon (I think they're Coho). Most were only about 3-4 pounds. I would stuff the belly with onions and spices, wrap it in foil, and he would grill it that evening for dinner. Up until we moved here, it was the best salmon I had ever tasted. I have to admit that there is something extremely satisfying about knowing exactly where your meat has come from. Also, when you eat fish so fresh that it was swimming upstream less than 24 hours earlier, you just can't go wrong. The salmon caught here is even better than the silvers from Whidbey. The first bite I took last year just blew me away. It has a mild, sweet taste and the texture of the tenderest steak - enough to bite into but it almost melts in your mouth. Best of all, since it is so fresh and delicious, the simplest method of cooking is the way to go. I poached this one over lemon slices and celery (smiley face optional) and served it with a creamy horseradish sauce. Yumm!

Blog Award - Real Person Award

2008-11-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

WOOHOO! I'm so excited. I just got my first blog award. Okay, I didn't JUST get it, but I just found out about it. I actually got it about two weeks ago. With being away in San Francisco, Thanksgiving at our house with my parents, boys out of school, etc., I'm just now catching up reading the 40+ blog posts I've missed over the last two weeks (I only follow about 6 bloggers).

I've been awarded the Marie Antoinette award... - I know... - Really?? Let them eat cake, Antoinette?? Uh, thanks a lot!

Anyway, as explained by the blogger who presented me with the award, lemondingo, this is also known as the "Real Person Award". Evidently the more private, less vilified Marie was very devoted to her children, had a circle of close friends, and loved reading, music, science and philosophy. Now, I don't care for philosophy, but the rest pretty much fits.

I think what I'm supposed to do now is make a long speech thanking all the people who ever believed in me when I no longer believed in myself, blah, blah, blah.... Okay, just kidding, we'll skip the speech. I would like to pass this award on to two other bloggers: my friend Barb,
(http://tinkquilts.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html), who is definitely a real person if there ever was one, and Sandra at http://suddenlysandra.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html - who seems like a real person but who gets so much sewing done I'm starting to suspect she might actually be twin seamstresses blogging as one person, lol.

I'm thankful for...

2008-11-27T22:14:00.000-08:00

my parents, who, in addition to being my parents (and thanks for that, by the way) looked after the boys for NINE DAYS so Devin and I could have a "mini-moon".

my husband, who completes me (she sighs with a disgustingly dreamy smile on her face).

our three boys, without whom life might become boring pretty quickly - believe me, it's NEVER boring!

enough. We have enough of everything that matters - friends, food, health, family, etc.

Sunday

2008-11-23T22:56:00.000-08:00

Well, today we drove home. It's kind of sad to see our lovely vacation end, but it will be nice to see the boys. We really thought we were going to be home just in time to see them before they went to bed but fate (or a bad road) intervened. We got a flat about 120 miles from home. I'm not sure what was going on, but four other cars were pulled over to the side with hazard lights flashing within a half-mile of us. I can only assume they got flat tires, too. By the time we waited for AAA to get there and change the flat (our flashlight batteries were not up to the job and there was no moon) the other cars were all back on the road. Anyway, we ended up getting home about 9:15 or so, too late to kiss the boys good night.

Saturday

2008-11-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Well, this is our last day in San Francisco. And what would a trip to San Francisco be without visiting Chinatown? I was especially looking forward to this because the last time I was there was about 20 years ago. In a past life, I went to the military language school in Monterey, Ca. to learn Mandarin Chinese and we made several trips up here with our instructors. Here's the entrance gate.

We mainly just wandered around and followed a guide book walking tour, visiting a temple, a fortune cookie bakery, and several shops. The highlight was our dim sum lunch. Dim sum is Cantonese so I can't tell you what it means but it's like a lunch of Chinese appetizers. You order more or less a la carte. My favorite for originality was this dish, fried shrimp balls. I didn't even know what it was but saw it passing us several times and finally asked the waiter for one by describing it. -And just how would you describe this? My favorite for taste was the egg rolls, which were absolutely delicious. The wrap was flaky and the inside was tasty and mild. Devin, being more used to Chinese food off a buffet, prefers soggy, pungent ones - ugh. I even got to speak a little Chinese for the first time in about 15 years. It was only a couple words, but the replies were appropriate, so I can still make myself understood, even if I am appallingly rusty.

Before we headed out of town for our hotel, I convinced Devin that the trip wouldn't be complete unless I visited at least one fabric store (I had three picked out as possibilites). Britex Fabrics is just off Union Square a couple blocks from Chinatown so I went there while Devin did his own thing. The place is HUGE! It's probably only about 20 feet wide but it's about 80 feet deep with 10 foot ceilings and there are FOUR floors. It was pretty impressive. I ended up going into overload, though, and didn't buy anything at all. It happens quite frequently that, if I feel rushed, my little homosapien brain is overwhelmed by the possibilies of what could be done with all this eye candy and I can't focus to save my life.

Friday

2008-11-21T00:15:00.000-08:00

Today we did one of the greatest things yet this trip!! We rented a GoCar. I have to preface with a caveat. It probably is not for everyone. It is a rumbly ride and you are totally at the mercy of the elements. Also, it is a little tiny car with top speeds of 30 mph (going downhill) on roads with normal cars. Once I even had to get out to push on an especially steep hill. Last, but not least, I felt like a total dork at first.... Then I got over it and started waving and smiling to everyone we passed. We had perfect weather for it - just warm enough but not too warm - and no rain in the forecast.

A GoCar is a little 3 wheeled go cart that is street legal and can be parked in motorcycle spaces. As we checked our car out, I had to admit I had a brief thought that the helmets were just to help preserve our facial features so our next of kin could identify us. Not particularly reassuring was the fact that #25, pictured here, wouldn't even start, so we were moved to #29. #29 had a bashed in front with the light secured by.....yes, that would be bathtub caulk! -I asked. I was reassured to find that the "ejection seat" button actually controlled the GPS. The GPS unit keeps track of where you are along the tour route and gives you a guided tour of all the places you are driving as you get to the corresponding way points. We ate lunch at Fort Point below the Golden Gate Bridge and watched the surfers ride the waves. A sea lion even made an appearance out there. Then we pretty much drove all over the western side of San Francisco in our little putt-putt.

The website said the tour we selected would take about 2.5 hours so we thought we were safe planning for 4 hours. My biggest piece of advice to anyone who wants to do this is to get there when they open and plan for all day. We had a total blast! We were gone 5 hours and didn't even complete the tour. We only returned when we did because the place closed then and it was getting dark. We probably could have easily taken twice as long and it still would have been fun.

After we turned the GoCar in, we tried to meet up with Devin's Uncle Lyle and Aunt Margaret for dinner. After a little navigational error, we finally got together and had a lovely dinner at one of the restaurants down at Fisherman's Wharf.

After dinner we headed to the Audium (http://www.audium.org) for a show. It was one of those places you might walk right past a dozen times before you really see it. Luckily we had no trouble finding it. They have 174 speakers (floor, ceiling, walls) in a small room where about 50 people are seated in circles. The lights are turned out and it gets pitch black. Then different sounds are played through the speakers. It's like surround sound but better. It ended up feeling very Zen. You just sit and listen. You can't make things move faster or slower, you can't see, and there is nothing for your brain to do but process the sounds as you hear them. I think we all enjoyed it (Uncle Lyle and Aunt Margaret came with us).

Thursday

2008-11-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

Today we got a late start (yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's my fault again!). First up was the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove across the bridge to the Marin headland on the north side and ate lunch in Sausalito at this wonderful little restaurant, aptly named Fish. It had a seafood-cafe style menu and was on the end of a dock in a marina. -Very picturesque and the food was VERY yummy.

Devin wanted to walk across the bridge all the way to the other side. I am still scared of heights and walking on a shaking bridge a few feet from traffic high above hypothermia-cold water just didn't sound like that much fun to me. However, it was one of the things Devin had to do it just to say he had done it. Imagine how bummed we were when two different locals told us it can only be walked south to north, not north to south. That didn't make much sense to us although we thought they probably knew what they were talking about. We stopped at the north end anyway and were thrilled to discover they were wrong after all. There was a pathway that led under the bridge to the walking side so Devin got to walk it after all. I met him on the other side, thinking that just driving across that bridge with its narrow lanes and heavy traffic was plenty of excitement for me.

We were having such a good time we ended up being nail-bitingly late for our twilight tour of Alcatraz Island. When we ran up, huffing and wheezing, we probably had an entire 2 1/2 minutes to spare. The ride out on the boat was beautiful. Here is a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge with the sun going down behind it. And now I'm finally where many people probably believe I should have been long ago. I thought about calling my parents and telling them I was in prison and could they come down to bail me out but I don't think I could have done it without laughing. It was a great tour (one of those audio tours) but a little weird walking around with lots of other people in a space in which not one of us actually belonged. -Like touring a ghost town. I also got a great night shot of the sky line of San Francisco.

Wednesday

2008-11-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

Today we walked, climbed, climbed, walked, climbed.... Okay, you get the picture. I know why everyone in San Francisco has skinny butts. It has nothing to do with the abundance of Asian fusion food. It's because they are on nature's treadmill every time they walk down (and up!) the street. So...here's my photo essay about our day:

Coit Tower - one of the highest points in San Francisco with awesome views from the top after a slightly scary ride in a rickety elevator.

View of downtown with the Transamerica building (the one with the pointy top).

View of the Bay Bridge with the Ferry Building (from Monday) just below it.

We could see EVERYTHING from up there, including the sun. It was the first time we glimpsed blue sky since Monday when we drove in from the valley (it's been foggy).We went down Telegraph Hill (where Coit Tower stands) by the steps on the water side. The people who live here have to carry everything up these steps - which sometimes amounts to 4-5 stories, depending where they live along the steps. I can't even imagine what unloading a trip to the grocery store with small children would involve.It was very pretty, though. There were public gardens along the way and all kinds of serene nooks and crannies, like this small fountain. Next we went to the curvy part of Lombard Street. This is the one you seem to see in every car chase filmed in San Francisco. The view from the bottom, enhanced by my wonderful husband......and the view from the top......and a shot of one of the houses with beautiful flowering bougainvillea climbing all the way up the side......and the view from the top at night. That's Coit Tower to the left and the Bay Bridge that's lit up behind it.Next we went to the Presidio. Last time I was here it was still a military base. It still looks like a military base but was semi-privatized in 1994 and both Devin and I agree it was a little surreal driving around a military base that clearly is not a military base any longer. I didn't take any pictures and we didn't stay long. It was kind-of unsettling.

Last stop was the Palace of Fine Arts. This was originally built for the World's Fair in 1916 (I think that's the right year). It is currently closed for renovations but is extremely beautiful from what we could see from outside the fence and across the pond.

Last but not least, here is a night shot of the Golden Gate Bridge. In one of my blonder moments, I forgot to pack a tripod so most of my night shots aren't turning out at all. This one was a joint effort. Devin held the lens while I balanced the body on a post and snapped the picture. It was just at dusk - magic time.

Tuesday

2008-11-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

Today we got up and headed for San Francisco. One of the tips from the guidebooks is that the public library sponsors about two dozen free tours (http://sfcityguides.org) all over the city (donation suggested). One of the dozen or so things on our list to do this week is to visit the Ferry Building and there was a library tour at 12:00 today. We searched and searched for someplace to park once we got across the Bay Bridge (pictured here) but garages were full and all the spaces had two-hour limits. I was starting to freak out when we finally found a lot with spaces to park in and ran up to the tour group - already in progress but we squeaked in only a couple minutes late. Whew. It was a fabulous tour and I highly recommend this tour program.

The Ferry Building was built almost a hundred years ago and at its height about 100,000 people a day passed through it. This photo is of the central tower. There is also a wing on each side which extends about 250 feet. You can see what a beautiful building it is now but only 15 years ago it was in disrepair and you couldn't get this view because of the freeway which ran between where I was standing to take this and the front of the building. The 1989 earthquake damaged the freeway badly and it was decided to tear it down instead of repair it (Thank goodness!). Also, in the fifties the beautiful space inside was turned into offices. The skylights in the ceiling were covered by a fluorescent drop-ceiling and there were three floors of ugly cubicles. - I'm sure glad we got to see the restored version without the freeway running in front of it. It really is quite an impressive building. The bottom floor is now a bunch of boutique style shops and eateries.

We enjoyed the Ferry Building tour so much that we picked up another tour of Market Street that began about a half-hour after the first one ended. It was a lot of architecture and history and wasn't quite as good as the first tour but was still very enjoyable and informative. By the time the second tour was over, it was time for dinner, so we headed for our hotel and dinner.

After dinner, it was back downtown for a concert at the Fillmore. The Fillmore is an old rock venue that almost every well-known band has played at one time or another. Everyone from Cold Play to Willie Nelson to Norah Jones. It was VERY cool. We were there in plenty of time to get a primo place to stand - close enough to get sweat spray from the warm-up band. We got to see Blues Traveler with 998 of our new best friends. Although there were no-smoking signs prominently posted all over the place, there was enough pot being passed around for anyone close to the stage to get a really good contact high (Not a single cigarette, though. I'm sure they would have stopped that cold!). Nobody seemed very concerned about keeping it hidden, either - must be because it's San Francisco, CA, not Newport, OR. I'm sure glad Devin doesn't have to do drug testing for NOAA like he did with the Navy because he might have some 'splainin' to do. Sorry about the sucky picture but that's as good as it gets when there is no flash allowed and the entire floor is moving like a trampoline from all the people bouncing (and in some cases jumping) to the music. -The venue is on the second floor. It was AWESOME!

On the way home I had to stop and get a picture of this beautiful, lit up building. I think it's a court building or something. Can you tell I love old buildings?

Dylan's photo essay

2008-11-17T23:41:00.000-08:00

I was downloading pictures for my post yesterday when I realized that my card had about 70 pictures on it instead of around 15 - the amount I had expected. Imagine my surprise when I had time to go through and look at the following masterpieces, obviously taken by my youngest, Dylan. Here are some of my favorites, absolutely unedited (I didn't even crop).

Rat portraits (13 "poses")

One awesome close-up of Dakota's impossibly long, dark, curling eyelashes (can you tell I'm jealous?).

Pictures of Dakota's rock collection, weaving, and pokemon card collection (8 still-lifes). 3 self-portraits - I laughed so hard when I saw the last one I thought I wouldn't be able to make it through any more.

Three photos of bathroom fixtures-two of the sink and the following porcelain study:

14 photos his two trophies, several including fingertips.

A dozen other photos of floors, hallways, and fingertips. Is it just me, or do I have the next Ansel Adams on my hands? roflol

Monday

2008-11-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

Today we started with a tour of the Jelly Belly factory - the only jelly bean worth eating. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the plant but I did get a shot of jolly Jelly Belly Santa out front. We learned a lot of various, useless things. For example, I've always wondered how they make the bean shape. Answer: They fill trays with corn starch and push this shape-press thing down into it. Then they fill the resulting 200 or so jelly-bean shaped depressions with slurry which cures over a couple days. Out come the jelly beans guts. And how do they make the coating not have a settling spot on the bottom where it sits as it's coated. Answer: They tumble it in a huge vat that looks like a personal sized cement mixer. 250 lbs of jelly beans get coated at one time. They knock the edges off each other as they tumble. It takes 10-21 days to make a Jelly Belly jelly bean from start to finish. It was such an interesting tour that Devin and I talked about going on it again tomorrow but that would cut into time for other things. AND that would give me the opportunity to buy ANOTHER SEVEN POUNDS of candy.

So we headed out for wine country. Our first stop was the Gundlach Bundschu winery just outside of Sonoma. I chose this relatively at random because there were literally hundreds of possibilities. Okay, the truth is, I was captivated by the name. I was an exchange student in
Germany for a year after high school and Gundlach Bundschu sounds really cool when you say it out loud. Devin proceeded to call it Gundschu Bundla, Bundlach Gunda, and, finally, "that Gunda Bunda one". Kinda ruined the magic :) . Anyway, the lady doing our tasting was very nice and helpful, especially when she found out we were wine-tasting virgins.

We scooted out of there after a half-hour or so to make it for a tour about 35 minutes north at the Benziger winery. This tour was recommended by our guide book as one of the more informative ones. We rode in a tram through the fields and the guide explained all the things that go into making a wine the way it ends up. For example, how the amount of sun and nutrients in the soil affect the taste of the final wine. We also got to go through the cave (man-made) where they store the wine in barrels. There were dozens of these tunnels leading off to the sides filled with stacks of barrels. I've never done any other winery tours but I can highly recommend this one, especially for beginners. They were friendly and informative, giving us a much better idea of all that goes into making a good wine. After the tour, we went in for the tasting. We really liked several of the wines here and, as we were deciding which ones to purchase, Devin suggested we join the wine club. Devin is a beer drinker, not at all a wine drinker, so I jumped at the chance. Now we will be getting regular shipments of a few bottles of wine at a time to try out at home. Yummm!

Tomorrow - San Francisco!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

2008-11-16T22:41:00.001-08:00

Today we got to ride roller coasters together! We never get to do this anymore because we ride with the boys or, if one of the boys doesn't want to ride, I stay on the ground with him and Devin rides. Devin is a roller coaster FIEND! I, on the other hand, am deathly scared of heights.

The summer after we got married, Devin and I were talking about what to do for our summer vacation and he suggested Seven-Amusement-Parks-In-Seven-Days. Privately, I'm thinking it sounds like something only a bachelor could think of and only his frat buddies would think of as a good idea (probably after a few beers). Out loud, I said something along the lines of "Gee, honey, that sounds wonderful, but I just don't think we could find seven amusement parks that are that close together." Just as I was getting ready to congratulate myself on my tactful way of declining, he named off the seven amusement parks we could visit and how long it took to get from one to the next. This was one of the most valuable lessons (learned by me) in our first year of marriage. First, never underestimate my husband's planning potential. If he wants something, he lines everything up meticulously and it almost always happens for him. Second, if I want a certain outcome, I need to tell him exactly what it is and not be subtle because he, like most men, doesn't have the chromosome needed to interpret subtlety. The flip side is that he can take my honesty because that same missing chromosome is what would make him take my differing opinion as a personal attack on his judgement. Leading to the third lesson. Compromise is possible. After some discussion, we ended up going to two amusement parks, leisurely sightseeing our way between them.

One of the things I love about Devin is that he is always up for anything I want to do (like go drink wine tomorrow, yippee!). Therefore, I try to willingly and enthusiastically participate in things he wants to do as a way of reciprocating. Today what he wanted to do was to ride in the front AND back of every roller coaster in Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. They have about five big ones. I rode front and back in two with him. I rode once in the third, which he didn't care to go on twice. Rode only once in the fourth with my eyes squeezed tightly shut the whole way, and absolutely refused to board the fifth, even once! -After he rode it, he agreed I wouldn't have liked it at all. Here he is in the front laughing like a maniac! He rode two of the coasters about six times apiece and rode front and back in all. I took pictures instead. Luckily the park wasn't crowded at all and the longest we had to wait was about five minutes (keep in mind he ONLY rode front and back - typically the longest lines). We also got to see a couple animal shows (dolphin, birds, killer whale). Even though it wasn't something I would have done on my own, we really had a blast today. It's a lot easier going to an amusement park without two young children in tow.

Saturday - driving

2008-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, we had planned to leave absolutely no later than 10:00 this morning. Not very ambitious, but reasonably early. True to form, we finally rolled out around 10:30. This tardiness is totally my fault, I do it every time, and I think poor Devin has given up even pretending to be surprised.

Anyway, we had a very nice drive down I-5 into California. We finally got to our hotel in Fairfield (just east of San Francisco) at about 8:00 PM. The most momentous thing that happened today is that Devin was devastated to learn that the Red Lobster Endless Shrimp, which he's been salivating for and which has been going on, it seems, for months now, ended on Thursday. That's TWO days ago!! So, no Endless Shrimp this year. :(

Sunshine, at last!

2008-11-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

The sunshine has finally made an appearance here on the Oregon coast. It has been so foggy and rainy at times that traffic signals are lost in the mist at somewhere between one and two blocks away. It's kind of fun driving down the main road through town because, although I know in general what will become visible next, I find myself paying more attention to things I don't normally really see. Anyway, the last time we've seen the sun at all here was sometime just before Halloween.

My parents arrived for a visit on Thursday and they brought the sun with them. -It's been absolutely beautiful ever since. They are staying through Thanksgiving, which is wonderful for two reasons. First, I love to have company over the holidays. It makes it a lot more fun to have more than just our family sitting around the table for Thanksgiving dinner. Since we're geographical orphans that has sometimes meant eating at someone else's table but that's okay, too. We have some wonderful friends in Florida who always adopted us for Thanksgiving and I find myself thinking of them especially often at this time of year (If you're reading, "Hi, Tom and Maria and family"). Second, Devin and I are taking off tomorrow for San Francisco. This is the first real vacation (longer than a couple days) we've had without the boys since Dakota was in Kindergarten, which was five years ago. I'm really excited!

Final soccer game for Dakota

2008-11-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, you caught me. This actually happened almost two weeks ago but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. One of the personal highlights for me was watching Devin try out Dylan's skateboard. Dylan has gotten pretty good at it and can do all kinds of tricks which I can never remember the names for. Hey, I grew up in Montana and it's hard to skateboard in the snow so I have no frame of reference. Devin's attempt lasted all of about six seconds before he stumbled off. To be fair, I don't even try to skateboard because I know I would make Devin look positively graceful in comparison.

For the last soccer game of the season, the kids only play the other team until half-time. After that, the kids on one team play their parents for the third quarter and then the other team plays their parents for the last quarter. Playing our own kids was a blast. We did NOT go easy on them. I think the kids learned their parents have still got a little game... and the parents learned just how bad a shape they're really in (although we tried really hard to disguise our huffing and puffing). Devin even scored one of the goals for our side. Everyone had a great time once we got past the smack-talk. One of the funniest things was that the ref was calling all kinds of fouls on our side which absolutely did not happen. For example, once he waited until the ball got almost to our goal and it looked like the kids wouldn't be able to score, so he called a hand ball, giving them a direct kick on the goal from about 20 feet. None of the parents had even touched the ball!! When they didn't make it in the first time, he called it back and had them try it again because he hadn't blown the whistle. I've never seen this square-off between kids and parents done anywhere else but it should be. It was so much fun for everyone.

After the game, there was an impromptu awards ceremony where the kids all got their medals. I was really proud of these kids. They improved so much over the season and it was a really great group.

Dylan had his last football game later in the same week so he is done, too. Now BOTH boys are wrestling.... But that'll have to be the subject of another blog entry.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

2008-11-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

I just finished this book by Kim Edwards. It is fantastic. I've started book clubs in two of the last four places we've lived just so I could discuss books like this one with other people. It's about a doctor who delivers his own twins, one of whom is born with Down's Syndrome. He makes the decision to send the one born with Down's away and tells his wife the child died. The rest of the story explores his reasons for doing this and the consequences this secret decision has on everyone around him. It possibly says more about me than it does about the book, but so much of it really resonated with me. I found it to be thought-provoking and extremely well-written. It's her first novel, although she has written many acclaimed short stories. I don't want to give any details away but if you like to read, do yourself a favor and put The Memory Keeper's Daughter on your reading list.

Computer woes

2008-11-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

Devin got me a lovely, brand new computer last spring. From the beginning, it has had major issues. I've spent several days on the phone with tech support to try to get things straightened out. The end result of my most recent call (on Thursday) is that they had me erase EVERYTHING and start over as if it was new out of the box. That makes twice in the last six months that I've had to back up and install everything from scratch. To add insult to injury, the DVD drive still didn't work so they sent me a new one. I got the replacement today and I haven't put it in yet but I'm hoping this problem will finally be laid to rest.

The other problem is that every once in a while it throws what I can only describe as a grand-mal tantrum. A grand-mal computer tantrum looks like this. At the same time it emits this horrible screeching sound. The whole thing reminds me of the (true story) man in Germany who was reported for disturbing the peace. When the police officers arrived, they found he had thrown his computer out the window onto the sidewalk below in frustration. They totally understood because they'd often wanted to do the same thing and just asked him nicely to clean up the mess. I can so relate right now.

In the meantime, Devin doesn't understand why I don't just demand that they send me a box to ship it back to them so they can fix it and send it back to me when it works. - I would love to take a short vacation in his brain because I imagine it must be more calm and relaxing than any tropical paradise. Here in the real world, if he asks for a box, they ask if a delay of two days for shipping would be acceptable to him. If I ask for a box in exactly the same tone, I get three more trouble shooting tips to try first. Be that as it may, if these problems aren't resolved this week, I will be getting a box to ship it back to them. Sometimes I wonder why a computer is even necessary. Then I think, "Oh, yeah, my blog..."

Another Quilty post

2008-11-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

I finally finished it!! Wahoo! This is the black hole that has been sucking up all my sewing time lately... and house cleaning time, and cooking time, etc. lol. It took way longer and was much more complicated than I had thought it would be. I have never ripped so many seams as I did on this quilt. I think it finished out pretty striking, though. It's a generous-sized lap quilt (46x68). Many thanks to my friend, Barb, for encouraging me to try the Seminole pieced border. All that's left is a little bit of the binding and then it's off to its new home for Christmas. The recipient doesn't read my blog, so I thought I was safe posting a picture. With my luck, she'll surf on over for the first time ever and the surprise will be spoiled.

Animal School

2008-11-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

I love this video about animal school. It takes about five minutes to watch but it is so worth it! When I'm at the school helping I find myself thinking, "Yup, he's a kangaroo. She's definitely an eagle." etc.

http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/wp-content/themes/179/aschool012008.html

Bowling with boys...and more boys...

2008-11-06T17:00:00.001-08:00

Devin made plans for us to go bowling last Sunday with one of his friends from work, Allen, and Allen's family. I told Dakota that his BFF Nathan could come with us. I called Nathan but there was no answer, so I left a message. Dylan was upset because Dakota got to invite a friend and he didn't. Nathan still hadn't called back so I told Dylan he could invite his friend, Evan. Evan was thrilled when we called and immediately said yes. About 30 minutes before we were ready to walk out the door, Nathan called saying he could go, too. OKAY! Good thing we got the mini-van or there would have been at least one very disappointed friend.

In the meantime, Allen had asked another couple if they would like to come? Yes, they did.... And he asked another lady whose husband is always gone due to his job if she would like to come? Yes, she did. By the way, all of us have kids that come with us as a package deal, or, to put it more accurately in this case, an invading horde.

-Did I mention it was raining? Entertainment in small towns (our movie theatre has 3 whole screens) is few and far between if you can't be outside. People are willing to try anything as long as they can look at someone else's four walls. I'm sure all this was exacerbated by the Halloween candy, still in plentiful supply and causing sugar rushes in children and adults alike. Anyone would have said yes just to get out of the house on a day like this.

We headed for the bowling alley, about a fifteen minute drive in the next town. Devin, who is normally so organized he makes the dictionary seem chaotic and arbitrary, hadn't thought about calling ahead. So we decide we'd better call to reserve lanes with such a large group. OOPS! They are full with three different birthday parties and don't have any lanes available for several hours. I have four boys in the car, it's raining, and I am NOT taking them home to play/fight inside for the next several hours. We furiously brainstorm for a Plan B. There's another bowling alley in a town about thirty minutes away. We call and they have lanes available. We call the other three parties involved and all agree to meet up there. Thank goodness for cell phones!

First off, I have never been in such a tiny bowling alley! There were only eight lanes total and we needed four of them, two with bumpers, for our group. It wasn't until everyone got there that I realized just what we had let ourselves in for. There were two 4th graders, 3 2nd graders, one Kindergartner, and two preschoolers, ALL BOYS... IN PUBLIC! - Additionally, there was a baby girl, but she was just sweet.

One boy in particular was a holy terror. He kept pounding on the video games, sticking his tongue up the slots of candy machines (EWW, gross), pouring out salt and pepper shakers, and generally running wild - even wilder than boys normally do. Our four (gasp) small charges didn't misbehave like that, but they were still boys. -The gentle crash of lofted balls. The pitter patter of spilled soda. The raised, angry voices of brothers dissing each other.- Even Devin was getting stressed and I think the manager was about ready to kick us all out by the time we finished bowling and slunk out on our own. Anyway, a glass half-empty kind of gal might be promising herself to never go bowling again (except in her nightmares). I, however, try to be a glass half-full kind of gal. I'm just glad that, for once, the holy terror wasn't mine! lol

Pokemon politics

2008-11-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for a while because I've been sick. I've had one of those eyes-popping, pale skin, can't sleep, sudden tickle-sneeze every other minute, kill me before I have to blow my aching red nose one more time, colds. It pretty much put me out of commission for the last three days. I was really glad I voted early because I don't know that I would have made it standing in line feeling like I did on Tuesday. (AND YAAHHHH!! OBAMA!!!) But now I'm on the mend and trying to catch up.

It's amazing how much kids pick up on the politics, even when it's not overtly discussed around them. Devin and I may make random comments here and there, but political discussion still takes a back seat to pure nonsense around our dinner table. We consider it a victory if we can get through a meal without any spilled liquids, tears, or "potty" words (banned at our table - mealtime or not). High-minded ideals are just not on the menu.

So it was heartening to find out that even Dakota picks up some of it by simple osmosis. We were on our way somewhere over the weekend and Dakota was playing Pokemon on his Nintendo DS. He captured a pokemon and named it Barack Obama (its original name was Abamasnow). A few minutes later he captured another one (originally named Sneezel) and named it McCain. What's hilarious is that Abamasnow is a 2nd evolution (highest evolution) who has a special power of making it hail while Sneezel is unevolved with no special powers. Just in case you didn't get that, let me translate. Obama is very highly evolved and can actually control the weather while McCain is just normal with no special powers. How cool is that?!

Trick or Treat

2008-11-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we went trick or treating - as Dakota would say, "duhh". The boys were ghouls or demons or whatever but Devin also dressed up. He always goes as a Dominos pizza delivery man and I've been giving him a really hard time about it. So he decided to change it up a little this year. He actually went out in public like this! I'm just guessing but I don't think Dominos will care for the new brand image.

A Halloween scare I could've done without

2008-10-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

Dakota and Dylan move through life at radically different speeds. Dakota likes things planned and can take ten minutes or more to just get his shoes on some days. Dylan seems to find it excruciating to be still for longer than 20 seconds (and no, he is not ADD, ADHD, or any other alphabet combination). Zadie Smith says of one of her characters in White Teeth that she "moved through life with her mouth wide open". I first read this when Dylan was only about three but several years later this expression still fits him like a glove. He seems to want to experience absolutely everything in as short a time as possible so that he can move on to experience the next great thing. Especially when they were younger, I felt like I was constantly playing a sadistic game of "Which one do you love more??" For example, Dylan (age 4) is pedalling his bicycle ahead of me and has almost reached an intersection where I don't know if he will stop on his own - but Dakota (age 6 - with Autism Spectrum Disorder and because of it, low muscle tone) is behind me and has just gotten to the top of a hill with a sharp corner at the bottom and there's a 50% chance he won't be strong enough to brake his bike to a stop before he crashes if he can't make the turn. QUICK - Which one do you love more?? Or Dylan (age 2) has run off in one direction like toddlers tend to do while Dakota (age 4) thinks it looks like fun so he runs off in the opposite direction. QUICK - Which one do you love more??

Now that they're a little older, it plays out in a slightly different way. Dylan takes about 15 minutes to get ready for school (dressed, bed made, lunch made, breakfast eaten) in the morning and, if I'm not paying attention, will wear the same clothes as the day before just so he can get to school earlier. Dakota will linger, taking at least 15 minutes just to eat breakfast and he couldn't care less about getting to school early. I finally had to tell Dakota that if he was late to school, he will lose activity time in the evening.

We only live about a quarter mile from the school and I accompany the boys every morning whether walking, riding bikes or, when it's raining hard, driving. This year, however, since there is only one of me and two of them and the two of them have such different time tables for getting out the door, I'm once again playing Which one do you love more?? I've started just this year to allow Dylan to go to school by himself while I follow with Dakota about 5-10 minutes later. This morning Dakota and I were about a block away from the house when we heard sirens. Now, I'm a worrier. Devin tells me I worry way too much. I respond that I'm really good at it because I've had so much practice and am just playing to my strengths. It's a joke because the truth is I do worry too much and I know it. If I hear sirens and one of my boys isn't in sight, I just KNOW those sirens are for him. -Then I talk myself down from the ledge. That's what happened this morning. - - Until we rounded the corner and I saw two police cars and an early-responder fire truck, all lights flashing, on one of the streets where Dylan would have crossed less than 10 minutes earlier. Now I'm fighting panic because I know it's Dylan even while the rational side of me is trying to stave off hyperventilation by thinking, "Really, Ann. Get a grip! What are the odds?" I sped up anyway and started looking for Dylan's white helmet. About a block later I see it in the middle of all the lights about the same time as the ambulance pulls up. I'm sure nearly every parent has imagined something like this but, trust me, I was WAY more freaked than I would have ever imagined. I was still visibly shaking an hour later.

Dylan was fine, thank God, just very scared. He's gotten hurt worse falling off the skateboard when there was no car involved. He was riding his skateboard across the street when a teenager came off the main street turning left and didn't see him until she "tapped" (the police used this word) him and knocked him off the board. Dylan said he tried to stop at the corner but couldn't. The teenager did the right thing by stopping to help (you hear so often about people - even adults - who don't). It was one of those horrible accidents that could have been prevented in so many ways and could have been soooo much worse than just scaring the daylights out of everyone involved. I'll bet the teenager looks more carefully for little kids and Dylan stops all the way before crossing streets from now on. In the midst of all the drama, Dakota passed right by with barely a pause because he didn't want to lose activity time for being late to school. I didn't realize until I looked around later that he was already gone.

Halloween blessings:
Non-fatal life lessons
helmets - which don't do any good if they're not worn
boys who, if you're lucky, follow the rules when it counts

Harvest Festival

2008-10-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Kids no longer get to have many of the celebrations throughout the school year previous generations grew up anticipating. I guess the school boards have to recognize all holidays (including Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Druid, etc.) if they allow any and at some point it became impossible to accommodate everyone's personal beliefs without offending anyone. As a result, nothing is celebrated, which I think is really sad. Halloween, which some opponents insist is a devil-worship holiday, is no longer allowed at any public schools that I know of. At the last school the boys attended, it was renamed "Book-o-ween" and children came with book in hand, dressed as their favorite fictional character. Here, they don't even do that. Most of the teachers do absolutely nothing, pretending as if Halloween only exists in some parallel universe. Dakota's teacher, however, is very creative to the point of being slightly subversive at times - and I think this is a good thing. She takes the attitude that she is preparing these kids for life and, from what I can tell, everything she does develops from that premise. Case in point? Dakota's class, unlike the rest of the school, got to have a Harvest Festival. They all belonged to one of several committees (games, food, cleanup, etc.) and had responsibilities associated with that committee. They went outside for about an hour and played games, then had snacky food when they got back inside. When I look at these pictures and see the joy on these kids' faces, I wonder how anyone can think that an occasional celebration at school is a bad thing, no matter what we call it. The kids got exercise, had more fun that they've had at school all year, and worked together toward a common goal. In real life, it's called team-building.

This boy busted through the bottom of his bag in the sack race and celebrated his certain victory all the way to the finish line. It was absolutely hysterical.

Bobbing for apples was really fun to watch, too. Even the kids who had no interest in actually eating the apples were determined to get one. Some got absolutely soaked in the process while others quickly figured out that, unless they could unhinge their jaw like a snake or had pointy teeth like a shark, they needed to go for the stem (creative problem solving).

Dakota finally got his apple. He didn't figure out the stem thing, instead choosing to empty the bucket one mouthful of water at a time. It took awhile but in the end his unique strategy was successful. He never did win the sack race prize of a single candy corn, although he tried several times and was disappointed because he really wanted that candy corn.

SO, just what the heck is a thunder egg, anyway??

2008-10-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Thunder eggs are the state gemstone of Oregon. According to Native American legend, the gods would steal the thunderbird's eggs and throw them at each other in anger during thunderstorms. The geologically more accurate, but much less colorful, story is that they were gas pockets in rhyolitic lava flows. Over millions of years, silica (quartz) and other minerals seeped in, partially filling the pockets to create geodes - or totally filling them to create thundereggs. This is what they look like on the outside. Very unassuming! What's amazing is that they have this very distinctive pattern of squares around the outside with a rounded top and bottom. I'm not sure what causes this pattern to form but they reminded me somewhat of really old cannon balls that have been buried and have corroded over time. The exterior pattern made them look man-made, if primitive.

Anyway, some of them are very boring when you cut them open - like flat opaque quartz. Others are stunning. Here are some of mine that have been cut open. These aren't even the prized ones. We could only get to two of the nine beds they had and the bed we ended up going to had this type, which are considered just run-of-the-mill pretty. I still think they're very cool, though, and would like to go back at some point with a 4x4 vehicle to visit some of the other beds. If you're an adventurous type and enjoy doing odd things outdoors, I highly recommend doing this.... But then, maybe I'm just easily amused?

Weekend trip - Sunday - success at last!!

2008-10-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we finally did what, in hindsight, we should have done first on this trip. Then we could have spent the rest of the weekend lounging around the pool at the hotel sipping mixed drinks. I'm just kidding. Although it wasn't as productive as we had hoped it would be, the rock hunting was fun and we spent time together as a family.

What we did is we finally visited Richardson's Rock Ranch (http://richardsonrockranch.com/). This was originally a 20,000 acre cattle ranch whose owner decided 30+ years ago to let people come dig thunder eggs out of the beds located here. I imagine it snowballed from there. These pictures show the TONS of rocks he has from all over the world. There are separate piles of rose quartz, petrified wood, obsidian, uncut geodes, etc., priced by the pound. All this is in addition to all the cut, polished, and otherwise improved rock he has inside his large shop. Although the shop itself would have been worth the trip, we were here to finally score some thunder eggs. We took our rock picks and buckets and headed out for yet another long, dusty ride over rutted roads to get to the beds.

Success at last!! Once we got the hang of it, finding and digging out

these little beauties was surprisingly easy. See that rounded object in the center of the picture? That is a thunder egg jutting half-out of the surrounding rock. In a couple hours, we collected about thirty between the four of us and headed back to the shop to have them cut open to reveal their inner beauty.

I'm sure it says something about me that I liked the guaranteed success involved in this last trip. They told us what to look for, where to dig, and even supplied us with the tools. --And I'm okay with that.

After a late lunch, we headed back home, where the boys fell into bed without complaint as soon as we got inside (around 9:00). I think they were asleep within minutes of laying down. I know I was.

Weekend trip - Saturday

2008-10-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning I poured myself out of bed, desperately seeking caffeine. I had slept with the octopus. -When I get more sleep, I call him Dylan. Who knew one small boy could move around so much while seeming to be fast asleep?

Once we topped off our tanks, we headed out for the day's adventures. First up was Stein's Pillar. Millions of years ago this was the molten inside of a volcano. Over the years the outside eroded away, leaving the basalt core sticking up from the surrounding mountain. It's 350 feet tall and 120 feet wide - even bigger than it looks in the picture. I was expecting something like Devil's Tower, which dwarfs this, but this was pretty cool.

Next, we headed for the first rock site of the day. We were better prepared than the night before with our GPS - coordinates already entered. I'm so glad Devin is kind-of techie, because I hate things like that, even though he got the unit for me so we could go geocaching.

On the way there, we stopped at Bandit Springs. Supposedly Oregon's biggest Ponderosa is located here. AND, much more fascinating for the boys, there are the skeletons of six horses left tied to a log by bandits who never returned for them. We found neither of these things although there was a large stump where the tree was supposed to be located. At this point, I'm starting to think this trip is cursed.

The site we were headed to was literally in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't a single building to be seen for miles and neither of our cell phones had any coverage for most of the day. Without a GPS we would have been hopelessly lost. The road was listed as maintained. We began questioning the definition of maintained as we tried to avoid the 2 feet deep ruts while branches scraped the sides of my six-month-old minivan. On the plus side, we were thankful we hadn't even attempted to go to a site where 4x4 vehicles were officially recommended. We finally did find the location and piled out to find the promised thunder eggs and agates. About two hours later, we left with a handful of tiny agates and no thunder eggs. It wasn't a total loss, though. The boys were thrilled to be allowed to get as dirty as they wanted and then get back in the van without being stripped down to underwear first.

By the time we got back to Prineville, it was about 3:00 and we still hadn't had lunch, although we always travel with snacks, so the boys weren't doing any Omen reenactments just yet. We stopped for fast food to eat in the car on our way to the final stop for the day. I have to say that this was the most beautiful drive of the whole trip. It was along a river canyon and there was just enough green to make you really appreciate it where it appeared. The light was soft but sunny and the colors in the rocks were just amazing. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to share, but Devin was focused on reaching our destination and wouldn't stop. He promised to stop on the way back, but of course it was dark by then. We parked and started the climb to the top of the mesa where we were supposed to find petrified wood, agates, and calcite. I found one small piece of petrified wood on the way up and Devin found a large agate. The boys had better luck, both finding lots of agates and Dylan finding a couple pieces of petrified wood. It was quite a climb. This is from the top of the mesa, looking steeply downward. That tiny dot in the upper right corner of the picture is our van. Although we didn't find anything noteworthy on top of the mesa, it was beautiful. I enjoyed just walking around and looking at these twisted, weathered excuses for trees. The textures were amazing!

For the boys, the high point of the entire day came when we were ready to get back in the van and drive back to town. Dylan found, wonder of wonders, bullet casings! The boys quickly collected all they could find and were disappointed when we told them they could only take 5 each. After all, if we take them all, what would that leave for all the unfortunate children who come after us?

Weekend trip - Friday

2008-10-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

We've had a crazily busy weekend - which I'll get to - but I wanted to give fair warning that I'm shamelessly back-dating posts. It's my own personal version of time travel.

We decided at the last minute this week (about Tuesday) to pull the trigger on our central Oregon rock-hunting trip and left on Friday. We didn't get to do this rock-hunting on the way back from Montana last summer as planned (with just me and the boys - rest assured I won't be making that mistake again). For reasons I'd better not go into, I decided I would rather do it when Devin could come with us and help me ride herd on the boys. Wise choice!

It's about a four hour trip from here to Prineville, our destination. It only took about a half-hour for me to realize that those with the y chromosome in my family speak, quite literally, a different language - one I have neither the time nor the inclination to become fluent in.

Dakota was reading one of those card trading magazines (he's an avid card collector and has THOUSANDS). All of a sudden, "No WAY! DUDE! I have a Charzard EX! It says here that it's worth $130!" Devin, injecting calm, "Just because it says it's worth that doesn't necessarily mean you could sell your card for that. We could check it out on Ebay. It's like your Kayor. If you hadn't activated it, it would have been worth $90, but if you wanted to sell it, since it's already activated, it would only be worth around $30." Dakota, "Yeah, but I didn't know before I activated it. And I wouldn't have wanted to sell it anyway because I have an underworld deck and he makes it really hard to beat me. I wish I had a Lord Van Blut. Then I would be invincible." Devin, "And I wouldn't want Kayor, because I have an overworld deck. I would need Fribit."

Dylan clearly understood the conversation because he chimed in at the right times. I, on the other hand, am left scratching my head. First, although I recognize that they are speaking Pokemon (and later Chaos) I (stubbornly??) don't speak that language. Second - $130 for a CARD???? One that my 9-year-old son has in his room and plays with??? Who has this kind of money? All those with y chromosomes (husband and sons) seemed to take this in stride. I, on the other hand, am thinking we need to sell all those cards littering the bedroom floors and fund four years at a private university for the boys with it because this is serious money. Clearly this is not only a language barrier, but also a culture barrier.

Anyway, we finally got to Prineville and checked in at our home away from home for the next three days. They had these totally charming sculptures around the hotel. These are two of them. There are some very similar ones here in Newport and I'm wondering if they are done by the same person.

We raced out to our first site but got there with only about a half-hour to search and the coordinates weren't in our GPS unit so we didn't even really know where to look. We had an unproductive hunt (lots of jasper but nothing else) with an "exciting" trip back down a steep talus slope trying to beat the sunset. We managed to make it back to the path before total dark but by the time we got back to the van it was ghost-story black outside. If we had only known, this was a harbinger of things to come.

"Cinnabon" cinnamon rolls

2008-10-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

The kids have today and tomorrow off school (teacher work days). The last two weeks were four day weeks and now we have a three day week!!! They are home almost as much as they are at school!

I've been promising Dylan I'd make cinnamon rolls for a couple weeks now but keep forgetting. It has to be a non-school day so they have time to cook and I have to start them the night before or it will be lunch time before they are ready. What I do is put the ingredients in the bread machine and let it work its magic while Devin and I watch television. 1 1/2 hours later, right before bed, I pull the dough out and make the rolls. Then I cover up the pan and put it to bed in the refrigerator for the night. The next morning, Devin pulls them out as soon as he gets up so they can warm up for about an hour before I put them in the oven.

The reason I'm giving all these details is because these cinnamon rolls are SO worth the trouble and I'm sharing the recipe here: http://www.copykat.com/component/rapidrecipe/?page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=485 and the frosting recipe here: http://www.copykat.com/component/rapidrecipe/?page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=485. I use butter instead of margarine in the frosting and it is absolutely to die for. I wouldn't want to make them too often because they are NOT healthy but as a treat they are over the top. I would post a picture but, honestly, they just don't last long enough to take a picture. Everyone swoops down on them and devours them as soon as they're ready (although this morning I salvaged some to share with my lovely neighbors before I put them on the table). Now I'm enjoying my food coma and the most wonderful smell lingers throughout the house. YUMMMY!

Trash day

2008-10-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have this strange fascination with garbage trucks (really all kinds of service-type trucks). -If you have absolutely no interest in garbage trucks, you might want to stop reading now. Although I've made comments about the garbage trucks in the various places we've lived to Devin, I don't think even he realizes (or maybe cares?) that I actually find them fascinating. I think this goes back to growing up in the boonies and having a burn barrel with periodic dump runs rather than a "waste disposal service" that actually comes to me. I appreciate the mechanism by which I put my trash out by the curb, and it magically disappears. Anyway, there are several things about our trash service here that are different from every other place we've lived. In Florida, for example, there was a team of about 3-4 guys who would come around twice a week with a standard crusher truck and take anything we left on the curb, including three foot high piles of yard debris. Here, maybe because the weather is frequently awful, there is one guy who drives a totally mechanized truck. There is this mechanical arm that comes out and picks the can up, lifts it to the top of the truck, and overturns it. Then it sets the can back down within inches of where it was picked up! I still have to stop and gape if I'm anywhere near when it happens, it's so cool to watch. It's almost surreal that this little teeny town of 10,000 people has mechanized trash trucks, of all things. Another difference is that the amount of trash we are allowed to have picked up is extremely limited (AND only once a week). The large blue can being lifted in this picture is actually our recycle bin. The other, much smaller, green can on the left is our trash can. It holds about 2 kitchen trash bags. Any yard waste we generate has to fit in this can also. Talk about incentive to recycle!

Conversation with Dylan

2008-10-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Me - snuggling up to my 7-year-old's neck and giving him a kiss, "You are my favorite Dylan in the whole wide world."
Dylan - grinning, "Yeah, yeah, just leave me alone."
Me - teasing "Aren't you going to say I'm your favorite Mommy in the whole wide world?"
Dylan, "Well, there are a lot of Mommies in the world and I don't really know if you're the best. There might be better ones."
Me - feeling slightly deflated, "Even if there are better Mommies, I can still be your favorite, can't I?"
Dylan - grudgingly, "Okay, you're my favorite Mommy.....But I still don't know if you're the best."

Vision Screening

2008-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Today and tomorrow I'm helping with the vision screening at the elementary school. Every year, the Lions bring in a huge made-over RV (similar to the ones you might give blood in) and spend two whole days at the school screening every single child from kindergarten to fifth grade. They also visit other schools in the area and perform this same service. If a child needs glasses and the parents can't afford them, they will also help with that cost (but they can't go to the parents, the parents have to ask them). This is a pretty low-income area, especially when it comes to the family demographic. Both elementary schools in town get extra federal money because such a high percentage (I want to say something like 90% at our school, which is lower-income than the other school) of the students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches based on the parents' income.

Last year I helped but I was "crowd control". This year I'm actually performing the screening. I honestly don't know whether to be thankful or appalled. I guess I'm a lot of both. I'm thankful that, unlike so many others, we have good health insurance and I never have to let financial considerations come before health considerations for my family. All of the boys have at least 20/20 eyesight and I know this for a fact because they have actually been to an optometrist to be checked.

I'm appalled because what I experienced first-hand today is a pretty strong indictment of our society. MANY of these kids need glasses. Now, you might expect that with the younger grades. This might be the first time they've ever been screened. And you might expect some older kids to score borderline when they were fine last year. However, when a fourth grader comes in, sits down, hunches over and says, "I already know I need glasses," and scores 20/60 OR WORSE!! the train has jumped the tracks somewhere. I would venture to say that there were more kids screened who needed glasses and didn't have them than there were who actually had glasses.

There could be many reasons for this. Maybe the kids aren't covered by any health insurance at all and the parents simply cannot come up with the money. Maybe the parents don't even know there are agencies that will help with the cost or are too proud to access those services. Maybe the parents are ground down by ______and this isn't even making their top ten list of things to worry about right now. Believe it or not, I understand and sympathize with all these possible reasons. I'm sure there are more that are just as valid. However, the simple fact is: It doesn't matter why. It doesn't matter if the fault lies with parents or schools or our health care system. What matters is that this many kids are coming to school every day (some for years) primed to fail because they can't read the blackboard. What matters is that we, as a society, are saying this is okay with us because we allow it to continue. And, just to be clear, I'm no longer just talking about kids needing glasses. I'm also talking about the whole range of health services that are evidently inaccessible to way too many children in the United States.

All in all, it was a pretty depressing day. The only "consolation" for me is that, after this screening is over, it won't happen again until next year, when I'm sure many of these same children will - SHOCKER! - still need glasses.

Terminator Pumpkin '08

2008-10-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

About 40 minutes north of us is a big casino. Today was the third annual Terminator Pumpkin event sponsored by them. I'm glad to know it's an annual thing so we can plan for it next year because it was pretty cool for four reasons.

First, they have $1000+ prizes for the biggest pumpkin. As you might imagine, this is enough to draw quite a few entries. This year there were about 20 entered. You can see from this picture with Dylan for scale they were huge (even if Dylan is a little on the small side)! I've only ever seen pictures of pumpkins this big before. The winner last year was over 1200 lbs.Second, they had a pumpkin carving contest that anyone can enter. The plan was for us to enter the boys' pumpkins. However, we got there too late due to Dakota having a soccer game until 1:30 today. Here are the first and second place pumpkins. They didn't have age groups so even I have to admit that Dakota's could never have competed with these two but he definitely would have been a contender for third. These were absolutely amazing. I've never seen anything like them before. Next year we'll have to get there earlier in order to enter. Hopefully the ringer who created these works of art will be otherwise occupied.

Third, they had a haunted house that was very small but well-done. The live head on a platter, the live dracula coming to life when you reach out to choose a piece of candy from his hand, a palm reader to tell your spooky future, an electric chair that flashed lights when you sat in it, etc. - Not too scary for little kids but scary enough to hugely entertain older ones.

Fourth is the main event - the Terminator Pumpkin. DUN, DUN, DUUUUNNNN! They took two huge pumpkins which together weighed about 2000 lbs., lifted them 100 feet in the air with a crane, and dropped them on a vehicle. This year it was a Jeep Wagoneer, but last year was a police cruiser made over into the "pumpkin patrol". Too cute! At first, we were a little worried that we might go home covered in orange goo,

because we were as close to the action as we could get.

Come to find out, though, they scoop the goopy guts out before they drop the pumpkins. Also, as you can see from this last picture, the vehicle mostly contained the pumpkins. There were plenty of chunks but, even as close as we were, they didn't reach us. The whole Jeep just collapsed in on itself. Note the bent frame and the rear tire which blew out on impact. Even I enjoyed this and the boys, including big-boy Devin, were totally jazzed! What is it about total destruction that is so exciting. Hmmm! With three boys, I'm not sure I want to examine that question in too much depth.

After the pumpkin drop, Dylan and I took a detour down to the beach while Devin took Dakota back to the car. There was this big rock out in the water that the waves were breaking on in a pretty spectacular way. This was my favorite picture of the batch.

Afterwards, to cap off a great day, we ate dinner at Mo's. Mo's is the local legendary restaurant along the Oregon coast. There are about six from Lincoln City to Florence, with two in Newport, where the original one is. Dakota loves the clam chowder there. I personally prefer the chowder at Chowder Bowl, another local restaurant, or, better yet, I make my own, but it's always nice not to have to cook it myself, which also involves digging the clams.

Pumpking carving time!

2008-10-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. Obviously, for any kid it would have to be Christmas, and I was no different. The gifts, the get-togethers, the gifts, the time off school, and, oh yeah, the gifts. When I got done with my gifts, I would go to my best friend's house and we would play with hers. Then we would go back to my house and... well, you get the picture. Christmas remained my favorite holiday until about sixteen years ago when some traumatic events took place right around Christmas. For several years after that it became the season to be not quite so jolly. Anyway, even though I enjoy Christmas again (although the gifts part is no longer the primary reason), Halloween still has the edge. I think the main reason is that Halloween takes place before the holiday craziness starts so I can really savor it. Christmas brings with it so many obligations. I find myself worrying about whether I've forgotten someone on my gift list, gotten out the Christmas letter soon enough, spent enough time with so-and-so, fully charged the camera, remembered the whip-cream for dessert, or, god-forbid, gotten the right kind or enough batteries for all the electronics that seem to demand them. Halloween has none of those slightly (Devin will tell me, "way more than slightly, hon") neurotic worries. Even costumes are easy now that the boys refuse to even consider letting me make them. I put up quite a fight about that at first but finally gave up. By the time Dylan came along, he never had to fear the home-made spider costume gone horribly wrong. Now I'm wondering why I ever cared. It's so much easier to just make a stop at Walmart.

One of my favorite parts of this, my favorite holiday, is carving pumpkins. Sometimes Devin supervises and sometimes I do, but it just isn't Halloween without a jack-o-lantern on the front porch. Yesterday we walked over to the neighbor's house so the boys could pick out the pumpkins for their masterpieces. -The neighbor has a farm where he grows pumpkins and then he sets them in the front yard for all the kids in the neighborhood to pester their parents about. It's quite a racket. - Of course, nothing mattered to my boys but size. Obviously the obsession with size starts REALLY early and without much encouragement for boys. $20 later we had two ginormous pumpkins that I had to carry back to our house - alone. About then was when I wondered why I hadn't waited until Devin came home to do this - he could've at least carried them.

Once I got them home and the tops cut off, the boys did almost all the work themselves (YES! -Picture me doing the happy dance) although Devin did help with scraping the insides to a manageable thickness once he got home. Dylan, as usual, provided the comic relief by trying to shove his head INTO the pumpkin. Imagine my relief when I realized I'd cut the opening too narrow for that to happen because I could just picture him stuck in there - forever.

He'd be forced to be the headless horseman for trick-or-treating... - and school. When we call him pumpkin-head, it wouldn't be funny. He would have that grotesque, leering grin in every family photo. I could go on, but it's becoming too horrible to even contemplate.

That huge pile next to Dylan is the guts and scrapings and the bowl has all the seeds. Of course we roasted the seeds and they were very yummy. I'd always salted them but had never put Worcestershire sauce on them. I got the idea from a fellow blogger, The Wedge: Pumpkin Carving , and thought I'd try it this year. I was gratified when Dakota declared them the best pumpkin seeds ever! Dylan, however, first informed me, "I don't want to try new things anymore." In the end, he grudgingly tried one but immediately afterwards ran into the bathroom where loud gagging noises were heard. Hey, this is all true, I couldn't even make this stuff up.

To further illustrate how my boys do absolutely nothing alike, Dylan was done carving in less than 30 minutes, including drawing on the face with the marker and standing back to admire his handiwork for all of seven seconds. Dakota, on the other hand, carefully chose a stencil, diligently poked the holes, and patiently carved for over two hours. He still isn't totally done but it won't happen until tomorrow. Guess which pumpkin belongs to which boy?

Migraines and Little Baskets

2008-10-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

I bet when you read the title you thought there was a connection, right? Well, let me explain: Today I woke up with a migraine. I try not to take the medication for it unless I absolutely have to function well because the medication causes its own set of problems. Migraines for me make everything fuzzy. I have a hard time following directions or remembering anything at all. Even conversation is hard. I find myself groping for words and slurring my speech. Today I didn't have anything I absolutely had to do, so I decided to just do easy things - no complicated projects or things that really matter to me. I thought it might be a good time to sew up a couple little baskets (great tutorial at http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html). I've been meaning to do these for quite some time and am really pleased with how easy they were and how cute they turned out. These will be filled with candy corn and given to the boys' classroom teachers on Monday.

I Voted Today!

2008-10-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Since we currently live in Oregon but are still Florida residents, Devin and I both vote absentee. After filling in the little bubbles, I put the ballot into the included "Secrecy Envelope", and yes, it really says that (in letters two inches high), put it in the outer envelope, put $1.00 postage on it (holy cow! Does the post office give the elections office a kick-back on that?) and mailed it. It took me a little over three hours this morning to research the candidates for the various offices. It sounds like a lot, but I strongly believe that if I appreciate the fact that I live in a country where I am the government (and I do), I also have the responsibility to be an informed voter and participate in the election process in the best way I can. In other words, since I am the government, I can only expect the government to be as good as I am. If I vote based on 30-second slur-filled commercials, or vote a straight party ticket, or fill in every third bubble, I really can't expect much. If, on the other hand, I vote to elect officials who I believe (based on research into past voting records) will actually represent me and my positions, I will be much happier with the outcome. So please, vote. I don't even care who you vote for - well, I do, - Go Obama! - but that's not as important as your active, educated participation. To that end, I thought I'd share some websites I've found to be helpful.

The best non-partisan website I've found is:
http://www.votesmart.org/official_state.php
Click on CANDIDATES at the top of the page. I especially like the interest group ratings feature. When you get to the individual candidate, it is in the list of options under the candidate's picture.

Another good site is:
http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm
One especially interesting feature of this site is this quiz: http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/pres2008.asp?quiz=2008 which ranks the various candidates according to how they conform to your priorities based on a short set of questions you answer.

Once you get below the national level, it gets a little harder to find information. A site which is linked to the League of Women Voters, another non-partisan group, is:
http://www.vote411.org/bystate.php

Enter your state and click on ON YOUR BALLOT on top of the page. This takes me to a page where if, for example, I (in Florida) choose "ballot measures", I'm given a brief pro and con of the different proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot.

There are obviously many more sites with valuable information out there and they vary state by state. I'll leave it to you to find the ones that benefit you the most. One more suggestion is to simply google the name of any local candidates and see what comes up. But please take your responsibility as a citizen of this great nation seriously enough to take a few measly hours every couple years to become an informed voter. I'm off my soap-box now.

Jerusalem Artichokes, or - The Other Artichoke

2008-10-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

We have a plot in a community garden. It's just a little plot and was intended to be a family activity. However, you know what they say about the best-laid plans. It has somehow become my sole responsibility to plan, plant, weed, harvest, and otherwise maintain our plot. Really, considering my boys, who have the attention spans of gnats unless it involves something rude or disgusting, this was a totally foreseeable outcome so I only have myself to blame....

Actually, the truth is, I love to make things grow, even if it isn't in amounts that substantially contribute to our diet. This year we have gotten peas, snow peas, and cucumbers from our garden. The deer liked the beans too much to share. None of the varieties of squashes did well, I think in part because we don't get enough sun in the corner of the garden where our plot is. The only thing left as of about a month ago was cucumbers and my artichokes, those tall leggy things in the front of the bed (and marigolds, just for color).

The surprise was the artichokes. I planted these artichokes expecting them to grow artichokes like you see in the store. My first clue that all would not go as planned was about half-way into the summer when I realized the leaves of my artichokes looked nothing like the artichokes in my neighbor's plot. About a month later, the neighbor's plant was sporting big, mouth-watering, lush artichokes. Mine...nada. About two weeks ago, I happened to mention to one of the other gardeners that my artichoke wasn't bearing. She very patiently informed me (I'm sure while internally rolling her eyes in disgust) that I had not planted THAT kind of artichoke. My variety, Jerusalem Artichoke, has little things like potatoes which have to be dug up - not the luscious leafy things which are merely plucked. Great! Note to self, - next time, bring shovel. I finally got around to that today. There was mulch which needed to be spread on the paths around our bed to keep the weeds down and I decided I would do both at the same time. About twelve wheelbarrow loads of mulch later, I knew I was finished shoveling mulch, hopefully for the year, so I harvested my artichokes and a few late cucumbers. I'm told that, after they are washed and cooked, these will taste almost exactly like artichoke hearts. I have about five pounds of them. Good thing I like artichoke hearts!

Albany

2008-10-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got to see David. We haven't seen him since I put him on a plane for Florida back in August. He didn't really come all this way to see us, of course. He came to visit his girlfriend, Kimberly, who grew up here in Newport but attends Western Oregon University. However, since he was here, he "allowed" us to take them out to lunch at our favorite restaurant, Red Robin. This restaurant chain is all over the country but the closest Red Robin for us is in Albany, a little more than an hour's drive from Newport. And bonus for them! -It's only about 20 minutes from Western Oregon University. They have a full menu of burgers, which are pretty good, but the real draw is the all-you-can-eat (or all-you-can-keep-down, as my grandmother used to say) french fries. The fries are really good and unlimited is good with growing boys, who sometimes seem to be bottomless pits when it comes to food. So we got to spend an hour or so wolfing down food and chatting with David and Kimberly. Kimberly is a very nice and personable young lady and we all enjoyed ourselves, even if they were LATE. Here they are. Just as I clicked the picture, David did his puffer fish imitation. David, when you read this, let this be a lesson to you! No more puffer fish! David caught a plane back to Florida this morning and we won't get to see him again until Christmas.

After lunch, we went to visit some friends of ours who live in Albany. Devin and Colin go way back to college days when they were roommates but, coincidentally, Colin and I actually grew up only about an hour away from each other in Montana, although we didn't know each other at the time. Now his family and ours only live an hour apart and we get to see each other every month or so. We are also godparents to Colin's youngest boy, who is such a cutie at just over a year old. We took four of the seven boys we have between us to this very cool playground that had an honest-to-goodness merry-go-round, among other things. You hardly see these anymore and we all had a blast playing with it. I was laughing so hard at one point my stomach hurt. Here's Dylan running around it pushing for all he's worth.... And another of both Dads pushing it with all the boys loaded on.... Dylan also got to practice a little with his skateboard. He's getting pretty good at it but I'm just waiting for the broken bones to start. If he's anything like David we'll be on a first name basis with all the emergency room doctors within a hundred mile radius any time now.

Today was a day off school for the boys and I have to admit I am soooo looking forward to them being back in school tomorrow so I can have some quiet time. I'd put myself in time out but they follow me there. Also, today Dakota finally had that dentist appointment that I posted about a couple weeks ago. They were so sweet about rescheduling that (contrarily, I know) I felt even worse about it. With absolutely no segue I have to mention that my hygienist is named Destiny. So, whenever I have an appointment, I think of it as my "date with Destiny." Cheesy, I know, but I take amusement wherever I can find it.

Dakota has a BFF!! (Best Friends Forever)

2008-10-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

So, about three weeks after school started, I'm walking Dakota home from school and he says, "Me and my friend talked about it on the playground and decided we were going to be best friends." My heart races with hope as I ask, "What's your best friend's name?" He replies, "I don't remember." Okay, if you know Dakota, this is funny and not so funny, depending on how you look at it. -I prefer to be amused.

For those who don't know, Dakota is on the Autism Spectrum. His official diagnosis is Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS for short), an alphabet soup diagnosis which sounds really scary but basically means his brain doesn't work quite the same way most people's do. Among other things, remembering names and faces is really not his strong suit. Ask him about the Goosebumps books he's read, though (which is every single one available at both the school and city library), and he can tell you every plot line in mind-numbing detail.

Anyway, a week or so later, I get a call from the school speech therapist who has Dakota and this other boy in her social skills group. She wanted to let me know about this budding friendship so I could possibly facilitate get-togethers outside of school time. At last, I have a name! Nathan! -I love him already. This is the first friend Dakota's had since Kindergarten that he's made all on his own. Most of his other friends pre-date kindergarten or are his friends because their moms and I want to hang out together so we force the kids to hang out together, too. In the last couple weeks, Dakota has gone over to Nathan's house a couple times and Nathan has come over here a couple times. -I'm pretty sure Nathan is also somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. Dakota and Nathan hang out together on the playground and it is so wonderful for both of them that they have a new best friend in the other.

Fast forward to last Monday. Dakota comes home saying he's gotten an invitation to a birthday party. I think "Oh, wow! He wasn't invited to a single birthday party all last year. I wonder who it's from?" I say out loud, all nonchallant, "Whose birthday is it?" He says, "Aurora Pavlovich-Christiansen" or something equally long and difficult to remember. I'm really impressed and say, "Oh, is she in your class?" "Yes." Is she the blond girl who sits at the next group of desks from yours?" "I don't know who she is." Then, immediately moving on to the next topic, he says, "And my friend wants me to come over on Thursday after school because there is no school on Friday." Now I know he means Nathan. Who else could it be? But I have to ask anyway, "Which friend?" He says, "Um, I don't remember his name." -Once again, I prefer to be amused.

Thursday after school, Dakota did go over to Nathan's house to play until after dinner. About 7:30, Devin gets a phone call asking if Dakota can spend the night. Now, this is universe-shifting moment for us. Dakota has NEVER spent the night at a friend's house. Not once! And he's in fourth grade! Of course it's okay! I drove over to drop off pajamas and a toothbrush and he was on top of the world. He was so excited he was bursting with it! They had a really good time doing all those things boys typically do at a sleepover (eating extra dessert, staying up until past midnight, -probably terrorizing Nathan's parents) and is still tired and cranky two days later. Is it worth it? You bet it is!

"Quilty" post

2008-10-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! This has been an insanely busy week! I had a workshop yesterday and today (Friday/Saturday) and had quite a bit of work that had to be done before it even started. This workshop is probably the best I've ever taken. We learned trapunto the first day by doing this block:

For those who don't know what trapunto is, it is extra layers of batting which are cut away in certain areas. The piece is then densely quilted where the extra batting has been cut away to make it lay totally flat, creating a three-dimensional design. Well, it took all day to do this one block as there are several steps involved and lots of quilting. When I brought this one center block home last night and showed Devin, it is a serious understatement to say he was not impressed.

However, the payoff came today. We put the trapunto block together with the pre-made basket blocks and then added a scalloped border, resulting in this:

It's still just a lonely top without batting and backing to keep it company but I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I just had to share! Hopefully I'll have time to finish it soon.

On a related note, I have to brag on Devin. Yes, he stayed home with the kids today so I could go play. Yes, he also took yesterday off work so I could go play (the kids here have no school Friday or Monday). He supervised Dylan's sleepover on Thursday night and took Dakota to his soccer game this morning. As if all these things weren't already great enough, he has to go totally over the top and get me flowers, too. These tulips greeted me when I got home. AWWW. He's the best! I'm totally spoiled.

Saturday thanks for:

Tulips that can be made to bloom in October, my dear over-achieving husband, and computerized sewing machines that make sewing "sew" much fun - definitely NOT in that order!

Dylan's first football game

2008-10-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

Dylan had his first football game last night. He's in the youngest league. In fact, I don't think David played football until 3rd grade. This league takes 2nd-5th graders. Needless to say, Dylan is one of the smallest guys on the team. He was so excited that he could play football this year that when he got his mouthguard, he wore it to bed three nights in a row. I finally put my foot down and told him to leave it on his helmet. We were late to practices because we would be ready to go and suddenly realize we had to go search his bedroom for the mouthguard. I haven't really watched his practices much so this is the first time I've really gotten to see these kiddos in action. I can summon the experience up in just two words: "sheer entertainment!" These boys are so much fun to watch in a totally different way from watching older kids who actually know what they are doing. The method seems to be, if you see a jersey of a different color than your own, jump on it! I mean, look at this, can all these boys really think they've just tackled the guy with the only ball in the game? After every play, it takes the coaches a couple minutes to get everyone back into position and then they do the dogpile thing all over again. I was very impressed as there was one (failed) passing play, and the whole crowd went absolutely wild when there was a fumble recovered by the other team.

Dylan is especially fun to watch - but then, I'll be the first to admit I'm biased. When waiting for the snap, he takes the crouching stance to extremes. That's him on the far left looking for all the world like a backwoods camper in desperate need of privacy. When seen from behind, his little butt looks like it's sitting on an invisible chair, he's so far down. At some other times, it's hard to tell what he's doing, although it's pretty obvious his head isn't always in the game. It's so clear these kids are having a blast and the parents are all so relaxed that it was an enjoyable experience all the way around. I guess it's not until high school football that over-zealous parents start booing the coaches and referees. That's a spectator sport I can do without. Judging by his smile at the end of the game, he had as much fun as we did.

Laugh for the day

2008-10-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

You HAVE TO watch this. My friend Barb sent it to me quite a while ago. I've probably watched it a dozen times but I still find it laugh-out-loud funny. Especially when she tells her teenage son why she had him. Enjoy.

UFO (unfinished object) completed

2008-10-05T14:11:00.001-07:00

All I have left to do on this little gem is the binding which will only take about 5 minutes (not including the hand-work which I don't count). I greatly underestimated the work involved in this and am really happy to finally finish it. I first started it back in February. I pick it up every month or so, work on it a couple hours, get bored, work on something else, come back to it, etc.

It's the first time I've echo quilted anything. I'm glad I chose a smaller project for my first attempt. Attention wanders ever so slightly and it's quickly very obvious. Rip, rip, rip, -frog stitch to the rescue. Anyway, it reminds me of this

real-life hummingbird I snapped a picture of last fall outside the kitchen window.

Sunday Blessings:

Music to stitch to

Indoor flush toilets

Hummingbirds, bumblebees, and any other creatures which can't possibly do what they do but never get that memo so they go ahead and do it anyway.

Movie Night

2008-10-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight was movie night. Every couple weeks Devin and I choose a family movie and we all watch it together in the living room. The boys get to eat dinner sitting on the floor and, after dinner, we all eat popcorn together snuggled up on the couch. Tonight we watched Evan Almighty in which Steve Carell plays Evan, a modern-day Noah, who is told by god (excellently played by Morgan Freeman) to build an ark. It is such a great movie. I love that it has a message but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. I love that the family works together to accomplish something big. I love the end when you learn that you don't always have to do big things to change the world (ARK = Acts of Random Kindness). I even love that Noah and Evan and I each have three boys. But most of all I love that there are still movies being made that people of all ages can watch together and enormously enjoy. I don't think anyone even said "butt" in this movie, much less the language you hear in some so-called children's movies. And yet, Devin and I enjoyed it as much as the kids did. Anyway, I highly recommend it, especially for anyone looking for movies to watch with younger kids.

Granola Bars

2008-10-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Devin and I joke that the boys must get up after we've gone to sleep and decide who is going to like what food items - heaven forbid they make it easy on us and eat the same things! Dakota likes jelly sandwiches and rarely eats peanut butter while Dylan will only eat peanut butter - hold the jelly. One of Dylan's favorite foods is macaroni and cheese. Dakota won't eat anything with cheese and eats macaroni with sauce. Dakota will eat cantaloupe. On one of those getting-to-know-your-child things that always come home at the beginning of the year, Dylan had to write three things he was afraid of. The basement when he's down there alone, nightmares and oh, yea, cantaloupe!

Dylan has recently decided he LOVES granola bars. He's been begging me to buy them. Sometimes he shows great restraint and asks only once a day but most often he asks in the morning packing lunch, after school at snack time and another time thrown in there just to make sure I am perfectly clear that he would really like some granola bars. You'd think I'd break down and just buy some but, no, I've been down this road before and the scenery does not improve with familiarity! As I see it, there are three problems with me going out and buying granola bars. First, they are expensive. Second they are filled with sugar. Third, and most important, if I buy a kind that Dylan likes, Dakota won't touch them and vice-versa. If I buy one kind that I'm sure one boy will like and another kind the other one will like, there's every chance neither one will like them and I'll eat them all myself. If I'm going to eat sugar, I'd rather sacrifice myself on the chocolate altar than waste it on granola bars.

So I dug out my recipe books and found a recipe for granola bars. This way, each boy gets to decide on the spot (and in the case of chocolate chips for Dylan and sesame seeds for Dakota, after generous sampling to make sure nothing was poisoned) what goes into his own granola bars. True to form, they had six ingredients in common (honey, oats, egg, cinnamon and allspice - and some wheat germ I threw in when no one was looking) but Dakota added Craisins and sesame seeds while Dylan wanted peanut butter, chocolate chips and teensy raisins, -which is our fancy name for currants. Here are the results. They smell delicious and hopefully these granola bars will be eaten by the boys and not by me.

OOPS! with bonus photo

2008-10-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

OOPS! Yesterday I totally spaced off Dakota's dentist appointment. It was at 3:30 and around 5:30 at soccer practice I'm talking to Dakota and suddenly think "Oh, shit! The dentist!" I'm sick to my stomach thinking about this because this dentist always runs on time. If he respects my time, I should respect his, right? His office even called me on Tuesday to remind me. I was like "Oh sure, it's on the calendar. I won't forget." But I did! I called this morning to grovel...er...apologize but they are closed for the next week. I'm trying not to take that personally. lol Now I will worry about this for the next week until I can get ahold of them, swallow my bitter pill, and reschedule. Anyway, even though today isn't busy in itself, this whole thing makes me feel totally scatter-brained. I mean, I can't even keep track of the only lousy appointment all week, what kind of mother does that make me? My kid is walking around with holes in his teeth and it's all my fault! There's a tiny rational part of my brain that recognizes this reasoning as ludicrous but that part isn't in control right now. So it ends up being a bymyfingernails day.

One of the best things about living on the west coast is the sunsets over the water. I mean, who really wants to get up at the crack of dawn to watch a sunrise on the east coast. Here, we frequently catch the sunset serendipitously and it's enjoyed all the more for being unplanned. This was taken at Shore Acres in southern Oregon last November.

The Rest of the Story (with a nod to Paul Harvey)

2008-10-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

"We have rats!" This is what Dylan will tell anyone who will listen, such as his teacher on the first day of school, or the pastor at church. Now admit it, you thought when you read it that we have an infestation of ugly, red-eyed, disease spreading, disgusting RATS!! No matter how many times I gently suggest he say, "We have pet rats." he insists on telling the story his own way. Meanwhile, I see the horrified look on people's faces and suddenly it makes sense why no one wants to come play at our house after school. So, just to clear the air, I thought I would show everyone these little cuties. On the left is Bill, being modelled by Dylan. Originally his name was spelled Balll and pronounced Bill (Hey, Dylan is only seven!) but Dakota just couldn't let that pass without comment. - Or, to be more precise, a comment approximately every 20 seconds accompanied by near-hysterical laughter.

Eventually Dylan caved to peer pressure and changed the spelling to Bill. Bill is sweet and cuddly. He loves attention so much that he won't even eat treats if you're holding him. He waits to get back in the cage to devour them. The one on the right being modelled by Dakota is Ric. This is actually the second one named Ric, with a different spelling from the first one, spelled Rick. Tragically, Rick (the first one) died while we were on vacation over the summer. He had little seizures from the time we got him as a baby last June. -Ironic that Dakota would own the only rat I've ever known to have neurological issues. Anyway, Devin put him in cold storage (i.e. the freezer) until we got back and could arrange the funeral service. EWWW! Rick is very active and seems to find his way out of any area where we try to confine him. His favorite spot to hang out when he escapes is behind the dryer in the back corner of the laundry room. So yes, we have rats, pet rats.

Update on David

2008-09-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

I got to talk to David yesterday. I'd left a message on his Facebook wall asking when I could call him and he called me. I'd had an amazingly quiet morning. No phone calls or visitors at all. I had just sat down to eat my lunch and had taken about 4 bites when he called. Now, naturally I'll eat my lunch cold if I can talk to David. I haven't talked to him for a month! However, we were only on the phone for about 5 minutes when the school called saying Dylan was sick. GRR! Great timing!
David and I cut the conversation a little short but not before he relayed the good news/bad news. Good news is that he's coming to Oregon in another week and a half. Bad news is that it isn't really to see us. He started dating this very nice girl, Kimberly, over the summer and is coming over the long weekend to see her. She goes to college at Western Oregon in Monmouth and he doesn't know if the plans for the weekend include a trip to Newport or not. He wisely lets her do the planning, - just as it should be, lol. Hopefully we'll be able to meet them for lunch in Albany or something. She's very worried that we'll be offended but, of course, we're not. This is an unexpected opportunity for us to see him too and we certainly understand how it is trying to make a long-distance relationship work. We did it ourselves for over a year. Anyway, he's settled in at his dorm at UCF in Orlando and enjoying having a kitchen (although he did mention it's not so much fun when he actually has to cook his own food). He likes his roommate and has a class at 9:30. Yes, folks, that would be A.M.! That really cuts into his beauty sleep but he enjoys the class so much he's motivated to actually attend even though it is so "early". He was sure to give me his address so that I would have no problems sending him a care package if I was so inclined. I guess I'd better get busy with the brownies and chocolate chip cookies if I don't want him to waste away to nothing.

How to peel a hard-boiled egg the easy way

2008-09-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last week at my sewing group, everyone was talking about this video. I, as usual, was clueless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2gYHJNT3Y

Now I know! This is so cool! I actually don't eat hard-boiled eggs just because I can't stand to peel them. I haven't tried it this way but am planning to next time I need to peel a hard-boiled egg. Some of the comments I've read have expressed disgust for this method because of germ transfer from spit. So for those of you who just decided never to eat eggs at my house for fear I've spit on them, - get a grip. You blow the eggs out, for heaven's sake, you don't spit on them.

Dakota's big soccer game

2008-09-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Dakota is playing soccer this fall on a team called the Eagles. I love soccer and think it is the best team sport there is for younger kids. It has action so kids like mine don't get bored, the kids who work as a team generally do better than those who don't, and kids who may be a little athletically challenged (like Dakota) can still make a meaningful contribution. That's Dakota in yellow getting ready to take that girl on! She moved right past him, by the way. But he did get in several good kicks during the course of the game.

Today was the fourth game for the Eagles but it was the BIG game. The Eagles had already won the first three games handily. See, there's that team in every league who is just better than everyone else. Most often these kids have played together longer (they trust each other) with the same coach (dedicated and knowledgeable) and have a combined seasons of experience much higher than all the other teams in the league. You might think that was us, but no, it's the Hawks. We got trounced and were jubilant. You see, the score was 2-7. A team that most often scores in the double digits only scored 7 on us. -AND we scored 2 on them. This is unprecedented! We play them again later in the season and I'm hopeful we'll do even better then. I'm the assistant coach so I feel pretty confident predicting that improvement. The Eagles are a great bunch of kids (to be fair, I'm sure the Hawks are, too) and they've made measurable progress already this year. I'll let you know how it goes after the rematch. As Dakota would say "dun, dun, dun, duuuunnn!"

Anyway, after the game we went out to lunch at the local pizza/pasta/salad/dessert buffet place. Here it's called Izzy's but I know you have one just like it where you live. Sometimes I think they all use the same recipes. The outstanding thing about this particular buffet place is the view. This picture is taken from the deck of the restaurant. It's just north of town looking south down the beach to the north jetty (that long skinny thing poking out into the water).

Quote of the day -

2008-09-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Racism has always mystified me. There are so many reasons to dislike people and you're going to go with color? by: random guy on podcast

Canning tuna

2008-09-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

So, I have this neighbor who is a tuna fisherman. He goes out in this tiny boat for days at a time (WITH a helper) and catches a couple hundred tuna. Then he brings them in, sleeps for a day because he's exhausted, and spends the next several days selling his catch off the back of his boat. When it's all sold he takes the afternoon off, gets up the next morning and goes out again. Tuna season is only a couple months long, but still, this seems like a hard way to earn a living.

I'd never had fresh tuna until we moved here. It's amazing! It bears almost no resemblance to the fishy stuff from the can. You can grill it or fry it or bake it. It's all delicious. Last year was really busy with the move here and all but I resolved this year that I would can my own tuna. Now, almost everyone here cans their own tuna. I'd heard several people say that once you've had fresh home-canned tuna, you'll never eat the stuff from the store again. That's kind of scary for me because we're moving away in a couple years. Will I never eat tuna again after we move?? Can it really be that good?

Anyway, I bought several fish from my neighbor (I happened to get the very last fish of his last tuna run of the season) and he brought them over for me on Saturday. He said I had several days before I had to do anything with it but if you've ever seen the size of a bag of 25+ pounds of tuna loins, you'll know that waiting wasn't an option. I have no room for this in my refrigerator! So I canned tuna on Saturday and Sunday and now I have about 25 jars of tuna in my pantry. Guess what! It really is that good! One of the pints didn't seal so I stuck it in the refrigerator and it was gone less than 24 hours later. That's a pint - about 2 cups! I guess I'll be canning more next year.

Word to the wise, though. If you ever can tuna just throw out all the washcloths you use. That tuna oil smell didn't come out even in a long soak with bleach. On the contrary, now all our whites smell odd. I've put them in the washer again - like I don't already have enough laundry - and hopefully they'll smell normal when they come out this time.

Thursday thankfuls:
great neighbors
electricity (thinking of the outages caused by Ike)
not worrying about where my next meal is coming from - I already know it's tuna, lol

What flower are you?

2008-09-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

I am a
Daffodil

What Flower
Are You?

I found this and thought it would be a fun way to introduce myself. I'm not sure how accurate the description is although my friends would probably agree with it. I do know that daffodils are one of my favorite flowers. If only they lasted longer. sigh