My daughter and my dad. I'm glad he and I have reunited. He's a good guy. He's worked hard in his life...and I don't think anyone has ever really noticed.

On a bus with 135 kids...

Today is our 10 hour field trip to OMSI.

Bus.

I-5.

Screaming 4th and 5th graders.

A kid who actually ATE the "H" key off of one of our laptops yesterday.

Need I say more?

Chickens or Guinea Hens...

I really want some fowl in my new (soon to be built) vegetable garden area. I was reading in my Organic Gardening magazine and there was a suggestion to get Guinea Hens (fowl), as they are quieter and don't squirt out huge poo the way chickens do. They like to nest in trees and eat bugs...

However, there's something so classic about hens and roosters. I've always wanted a Rhode Island Red or a little Bantam Rooster, strutting about, running the roost, making his presence known. This could pose a problem with neighbors, which is why the Guineas are catching my attention!

This car supposedly is under $20,000, gets 100MPG and can travel at 100 MPH.

I want one.

A funny short story

My family lived all over the United States, so I'm quite lucky, I suppose. I have lots of memories that are divided into regional segments. For example, if I think about the time we lived in High Point, NC, I think about the next-door neighbor who had a 16 year old daughter with "water on the brain," as my mom called it. Their other daughter was a friend of mine. When I went into her house, the disabled daughter was in a crib in the front room. Only her eyes moved. She was about 3 feet long, I suppose, with a tremendous head. When I think about Oklahoma City, OK, I remember riding a tricycle down our long driveway and crashing into the garage door. When I think about Vancouver, WA, I remember playing in the woods for hours with all of the neighborhood kids. We lived like we were inhabitants of the woods for an entire summer. When I think about Columbia, SC, remember we had a fort in the backyard that was a 2-story log cabin. The upstairs was really cool, with windows that had real glass in them. An older neighbor boy convinced me to go inside with him and kiss him. I was 5. He was probably 10. Ick.

But, the memory that gripped me this morning is pretty good. For a short time, we lived in Salem, OR during my 1st and 2nd grade years. My parents loved Oregon, so, after we moved back to the East Coast, they yearned to return, which we did, 4 years later. While we were in Oregon, we traveled every single weekend. My dad loved driving our huge Olds Delta 88. I hated riding in the car, as my parents smoked and I was the carsick kid. On one trip, however, we didn't go in the car, as dad bought us tickets to ride the train from Portland to Pendleton to visit some friends out there. We drove to the old train station in Portland, which has now been completely renovated. Back then, about 1972, it was just icky. As we were boarding the train, Dad asked the porter where our seats were. He said, "When you go inside, turn left. Your seats are in that area." So, that's what we did. We were SOOOOOOOO lucky! We had a private room! The door was opened as we approached and we went right in! It had a small couch, 2 overstuffed chairs, a huge mirror and a big window! There was a doorway in it that led to a private toilet and sinks. My younger brothers and I were so happy!

Dad is always an antsy man, and as soon as we had settled in, he left us and went to get cold drinks. The train had just begun pulling away from the station. As he left, he pulled the door to room closed. A few minutes later, he returned, looking a little harried. He said to my mom, "Hurry up. These aren't our seats! " then, hurried us kids to gather up our things. As we left our cool room, complaining, I saw a sign on the outside of the door that said, "Ladies' Lounge."

Deactivation

The school district updated our security system. I was given a "keycard" a few weeks back. Since getting the new "key," I've misplaced it 3 times. I haven't seen it since last Monday, so, after a conversation with CH, realized I must call in and have it deactivated.

My question is this: To increase security, the district changed to a keycard system. My key card is big, has my picture on it, and says the name of the school district on it. If I leave it somewhere, anyone knows that it's a key to a school building. Since we have fewer buildings open, it'd be pretty easy to try it out and get free access, just by trying it out on a few school doors.

Before, I had basic keys that looked like they could open any door. There was nothing indicating who/what owned them, so, if I lost them, the likelihood that anyone would figure out what they were was quite low.

Why didn't we just stay with the regular keys? I never lost those!

Hot Dog Lips

One of our dogs, Jim Dandy, has started a new bad habit. He can now remove entire boards from our backyard fence. He spends his days while we are away at work working feverishly on widening the "play" area for himself, Dood, and Theo. All 3 dogs are fat. All 3 somehow manage to squeeze through the opening Jim Dandy makes! Remember, one board is about, oh, 6-8 inches wide.

My hubby got a scoop from the guys at Spaeth Lumber. See, he's been there several times over the past few weeks. Guy behind the counter tells Hubby that he needs to put Tabasco on the boards to keep the dog away. He says, "You see, a dog can't tolerate the sting of the peppers."

Hubby goes to town on this one. Goes to Costco and buys the biggest darned bottle of Tabasco around! Begins shaking it all over the place!

First day, Jim Dandy avoids the fence.
Second day, same thing...
Third, Fourth, Fifth days...ditto.
Then, today, I came home from work and found all 3 friggin' dogs sitting in the driveway, happy as clams. I go in back and find the broken board. I took a look at Jim Dandy and notice that his lips look funny. They're sort of curled back and he seems to be smiling. A closer look reveals that his tongue is a little swollen and his gums are bright red!

Darned dog. He said to himself this morning as I put him in the backyard, "OK. Today's the day. I will overcome the sting of the peppers and bust through the fence, even if it hurts me lip and gums!"

Run like the wind...or not...

Drove hundreds of miles today. Left the house at 6:30 to get Beautiful Daughter to Salem for the ACT Exam. It took 5 hours, so, I dawdled away some time having hot tea and reading The Stateman Journal in a cool little artsy coffee shop called "The Blue Pepper." I headed over to McMinnville to pick up my mom, who I haven't seen since Christmas Day 2006 (it's a long story). I'd invited her to come with us up to Beautiful Daughter's Willamette Falls Invitational Track Meet...

We drove back to Salem, out to Sprague High School, picked up BD, had some lunch, and sped up to Oregon City to Pioneer Stadium. My husband ended up showing up, too, as he was on his way home from Hood River. Then, my dad, from Newberg, came, too! It was a weird, partial family reunion.

BD ran like the wind in the 3000 Meter race...for, oh, about the first 1000 meters. Then, something changed. She began struggling. I was sitting along the rail of the stadium, digitally taping the entire run on my new little camera (it's cool) and watching closely, expecting something to happen. She ran the whole race, but I noted her gait was off and her face was twisted. I "slipped into a dream" (think Beatles) and actually saw her in my mind's eye falling down on the track. When I stepped back into reality, she was still running, but was getting closer and closer to the back. She ended up finishing in about 9 place! I've never seen BD do this before, and it had me a little concerned, no, a LOT concerned. After she crossed the finish line, she, along with all of the other runners, paced about in that area, waiting for the final OK to move on. When she moved on, I watched her walk slowly around the track, clutching her chest. I knew better than to express a concern, so I just watched, even using the digital zoom on the camera to get a little closer look. She was in pain.

You see, BD is not well. This is the next step in what her pediatrician described to me as her slow decline. BD is amazing. BD fights obsessions, especially with perfectionism, which has led to a rapid decline in weight and health, due to an extremely taxed physiology.

I am not going to say anthing to her about it at this point, as I've learned my lesson over and over again. My concerns are stupid, and I overreact to everything. Man, but you can bet I'll be contacting her dr. and coach this week. She commented to all of us after she joined us in the grandstands, "I don't know what's wrong. It's like my lungs and heart wouldn't work. I couldnt' breathe for awhile and my heart hurts now. I wonder what's wrong with me?

Mom just bites her lip...

24-Hour "Wall-Brawl"

It is nice living in a "small" city. The kids have to find things to do, since we are lucky enough to not have a MALL here. Anytime I've thought, "Hmmmm...I wish we had a MALL here," I hit STOP, REWIND, DELETE! What the hell am I thinking!!!

Anyway, the kids get pretty creative. Even though we have 3 TVs, Playstations in 2 rooms, DDR, a computer, all that "sit on your ass and veg" crap, the kids in this house usually head out on some sort of adventure with their pals. My daughter has her license, so it's nice, because part of the deal is that she is in charge of driving her little bro' and the Swede into town whenever they need/want. She complains about gas money, until I remind her that the money she spends is money I give her...and then she stops complaining.

Being that there is no school today and tomorrow, a freaky group decided to extend this "Wall-Brawl" thing they've been doing on weekends on the backside of the high school to a 24-hour event! Supposedly, there are adults there (I truly doubt it) monitoring the kids. They have tents set up and food and water. The kids are playing championship wall ball games. They started playing this morning at 10 a.m, I think. I know that my son has been there all day, playing rain or shine. IT'S SO COOL living in Corvallis!

WALL BALL RULES
The goal of the game is to strike (hit or sock) the ball in a downward motion so it bounces on the ground then hits the wall.
Basic Rules
2 people on the court
the remaining players gets to serve (winner from previous game)
The received must return the ball (no outs on a serve)
The ball must bounce before the player hits it.
After the player hits the ball it must bounce before it hits the wall
The first person in line is the judge if there is a question about a call.
A player is out if…
Ball doesn’t bounce before hitting the wall
Ball doesn’t bounce before the player hits the ball
The ball bounces more than once
The ball hits the very corner of the wall and ground
The ball does bounce inside the lines after it hits the wall
The ball is stopped or caught

I know I'm a dork because I frequently want to do the things my kids are doing, but I want to play, too! A while back, my buddy, CH, mentioned starting up an adult dodgeball team. I was so into it! I would lie in bed thinking about slamming others with balls, just like I did in high school...and, honestly, during my first 2 years of teaching. See, back in '86, we didn't have PE teachers in the schools, but we did have 4 days of PE each week. I had to plan the games and activities. My class of 5th graders were brilliant, and most were AMAZONS, as their parents were quite affluent and provided them with proper nutrition, unlike the kids I work with today, who are either teeny-tiny, due to inadequate food...or super obese, due to living off soda, juice, hot cheetos, and boogers.

So, my then team-teacher, now my husband, co-teacher and I would put the kids in the gym 2 days per week and set up a HUGE prison ball system! Oh, man, was it elaborate! There were clearly marked boundaries, a terrible prison for the losers who got nailed, and 2 teachers who loved nailing kids. We'd each set ourselves up on opposing teams, to create a feeling of fairness. We would throw the balls so hard that kids would actually writhe in pain on the floor with huge red wounds on their upper-torsos. Only wimps aim for the legs...and it was illegal to go for the heads.

The most amazing thing happened one afternoon as we were pummeling kids. One smartass named "Greg," the kid in my class who was so full of himself that I truly disliked him, challenged my now-hubby by throwing a ball a bit too high...but, he missed. BIG MISTAKE! My hubby was much bigger then (he's probably 40 pounds lighter now). He ran toward the midline, with a red, rubber playground ball clutched in his big right hand. As he hurled the ball, the kid tried to back-peddle and fell. He broke his arm when he went back. He hyper-extended the elbow and snapped the bone!

I want to start up an adult dodgeball or prison ball team! Of course, there are only so many hours in the day, but I've been wanting to work out...I do need to drop 40-50 pounds...and pummeling others is very motivating for me.

What is is about Blogging???

First of all, I'm sure I'm not the first to say that the word "blog" leaves an unsatisfying feeling in my mouth. It's not a word that sounds graceful.

Anyway, since opening this site, I've been doing all of this weird "remembering" of stuff. I'm not sure why, and, believe me, I AM a junior psychologist who spends hours trying to figure out all of life's questions, if they involve me.

Anyway, as I was driving home this afternoon, I was feeling really thirsty. The traffic was slow and I suddenly "slipped into a dream." (Think Beatles...)
I remember that when I was 3 years old, my younger brother and I were sitting in the back seat of my mom's really cool '65 Malibu convertible. She'd bought the car after our dad was killed in a crash in their car, which was obviously totaled...my mom was only 21 when it happened and suddenly was a widow with 2 babies.

She used to drive really fast in the car. It was maroon with black vinyl interior...with absolutely no air conditioning. We lived in Oklahoma, so the car was hot when we got in. I'd burned the backs of my legs on the black vinyl, since mom left the top down and the 100 degree+ heat created a skillet to fry little legs.

I remember that I was really thirsty. I remember I told my mom and she ignored me. I repeated it and she said, "Too bad. We're not stopping. I'm flying right now." I remember sort of whimpering, as I was burned and hot and thirsty, and she suddenly said, "Alright, already! Here's your damn drink!" She pretended she had a cup in her hand and put the fake cup under the dials of the radio. She turned the knobs and made a "shhhshhhshhh" sound like water running from a tap. She reached back and tried to hand me the fake cup of water.

Man, she really was a bitch. I'm glad I don't have to talk with her much these days.

GRRRRR...People can be so rude!

I made more than 56 phone calls tonight, trying to beg parents to come and volunteer for tomorrow's high school track meet. I've sent out more than 5 neat, nice, polite e-mails this week, encouraging folks to come out and help make the meet a success! I have left funny messages, serious messages, and plain ol' boring messages on more than24 answering machines.
There are some people who think that giving a few hours to help the track teams merits them receiving an award for community service. I have more than 20 working positions open for the meet...and no one to fill them! ARRGH!!!

One woman said, "I can't help. I have to drive my son to soccer practice." I said, "Can you come after that? We really need help." Her reply, "Well, I'm pretty tired. I've been cleaning house all day and will finish mopping the kitchen tomorrow."

Ugh...I work full-time (usually 12 hours/day), feed 3 teenagers and nurse the needs of a fairly needy husband, take care of 3 big dogs, cook dinner, work in the garden, and STILL somehow manage to help our track team!!! I don't like some of the "busy" lazy women...

GRRRRRRR......

Beautiful, beautiful Spring...

At this time of year, I have more trouble sleeping than just about any other time, other than the night before a big vacation. I left the bedroom window open last night for the first time this year. I am a "white noise" woman, meaning that I have a small, noisy fan by my bedside running all night, as the noise triggers feelings of sleepiness and also drowns out any other sounds in our home/neighborhood. Without the fan, I'm a mess. When I travel, I struggle so much that I use the highest power earplugs.

Anyway, when I woke this morning and turned off the fan, I could hear this awesome Spring rain outside. I jumped right up, put on some garden clogs, grabbed an umbrella, and went out in my nightgown.

Rain in Springtime brings out so many good memories for me. I grew up living all over the country, but there is one commonality that connects all of my childhood memories...Spring Rain.

*In Oklahoma, rain falls fast and hard for 5 solid minutes. When you go outside, there are HUGE puddles that are full of dirt and mud. As a kid, you step into the puddle barefooted and the water is warm. Also, there is wind and thunder, which is one of those, "I'm kind of scared but love it!" feelings!

*In South Carolina, I have this memory of standing under the eaves of our house as the gush of rain caused the gutters to overflow rapidly. I remember standing behind a waterfall coming off the roof...and reaching my hand out through the fall. There, too, the water was warm.

*In North Carolina, we lived in a "rural" neighborhood, just outside of Greensboro. I remember hearing rain at night and being scared. It hit the roof so hard that the house actually vibrated.

*Also, in NC, when we lived in Jamestown, just outside of High Point, I remember being scared to go out, because there were so many kids in the neighborhood that were black. My grandmother had told me to avoid these people when I was 5 years old...and, being an obedient child, I avoided them. But, I wanted to go outside, too, and play in the rain. That memory is sort of sad.

*In Washington, we played in the woods beside our house with this huge crew of kids! See, we'd moved there from North Carolina and my parents had bought us real moccasins to wear when we played! Moccasins are NOT a good idea for kids in Washington, since everything is wet. My memory...the rain fell and you couldn't feel it. It was just a continuous mist.

This morning, the garden was so bright and green...and the tulips were bent over, heavy with water in their little hats. I just stood there in my nightgown, under our biggest umbrella. It was really nice.

I hate it...really, I do!

OSU's new "logo" is disturbing to me! I know it's weird, but, I really have this brutal feeling of extreme dislike for it.

First of all, I read that OSU paid some really expensive graphic design company to create it...when, honestly, they could have gone to Fairbanks Hall on campus and met up with some of the world's most talented (and cheap) artists right there...students! Plus, I could have created something good, using all 3 letters ("O! S!U! Oregon State! Fight, fight, fight!")

I bought my hubby a new jacket for his birthday today. It has the logo on it...along with the Nike Swoosh. I loved the jacket design and lines and he really, really needed it, as a recruiter for the school. He likes the logo, so that's what it's all about, and I bit my tongue as he said, "Thank you! I really like this." Heck, he really likes it. I'll let him have that. He's more of a Beaver fan these days than me, anyway. But, I want to go and get one of those cool fabric markers and add a "U" to the embroidered logo.

But, what's with the OS???!!! It's OSU!
Heck, while I'm at it, I miss Benny Beaver.
Oh, yeah, and Bernice, too!

Electronic Tones...

One time on NPR, this guy did a story about his research related to all of the TONES we hear in our lives. He visited several large corporations and sat inside cubicles, monitoring all of the sounds. For example, the computer CPU had a tone that sounded like a very high F#. The small refrigerator the cubicle owner had under his desk had a faint, lower B-flat tone. When his phone rang, the pitch was around an A-natural. On and on, he listed off all of the tones within this little area and found that they were in dischord. As a result, he felt the guy working in that area had a lower productivity level...his brain was being involuntarily flooded with tones that argued with one another...complete tonal chaos.

Then, he told about some work he'd done in an apartment owned by a young couple. He worked with all of the electronics in their home to create tonal harmony. Everything was tuned to be within an A# major chord. Within 1 hour, the couple, who had been angry at one another for months, began making love right on the kitchen counter! No, that part didn't really happen, but, I remember the woman saying, "For the first time in months, my husband looked handsome to me!"

So, as I sit her, I hear a loud TV in another room on TBS, the fridge is buzzing on an E, there is a clock ticking on the wall, the CPU on this new computer is fairly silent, but when I crouch down, I can hear this funky, scary so of popping and whining. The postman's car just pulled up to the mailbox. It's an old Dodge Aries K-Car, so it's tone is just plain ol' flat and sluggish...my guess is that it is a low, low G. The lamp on this desk has one of those halogen bulbs that sounds like a high, high D-flat, and, well, my stomach is grumbling at E. Talk about dischord! My brain is hearing all of this noise, including the loud tapping of this new keyboard, which I find extremely irritating!
No wonder I yell at my husband and kids. Their natural vocal tones really mess up my chaos!

New Sport for Us!

Lacrosse absolutely rocks! Tonight we viewed our exchange student's first Lacrosse match! I never realized how extremely violent the game can be! Kids were flying everywhere! Their sticks are not only tools for catching and passing, but also serve as weapons of destruction! One concern I had was that no one was wearing any shin guards. I saw a few kids take direct hits on the boniest part of the human body, and still manage to keep on hustling down the field until play ended. Then, they'd roll on the ground for a bit, squinting back the pain!

The CHS Team won, playing a tough game against West Salem. "The Swede" played often, made a lot of contact with the funky rubber ball, and even had some violent encounters with the other team, while trying to get control of the ball! Ouch!

As I was looking over our family calendar for the rest of April, I realized that there are now officially no weekday evenings without 1-2 "kid-related activites," all taking at least 2 hours. Even 3 of the 4 weekends are filled with invitational track meets, ACT exam, and a Lacrosse International Invitational in Portland. It will be fun navigating from Salem to Oregon City in less than 25 minutes, at one point. Ha!

I feel a little guilty, but, in this situation, I'm relieved to say that my children live in my home only 50% of the time. They will be leaving for their dad's house tomorrow for a week of adventures with him. Oh, and the Swede goes, too!