blah blah blah

Time travel gifting

2008-07-03T06:26:00.002-07:00

Remember back a few posts, come on you can do it I haven't posted much lately. So remember back a bit when I was telling you about my brother and I was lamenting the fact I never got a Water Buffalo that he mentioned while he was in Vietnam?

WELLLLLLLL, Richard, his wife Kathy and my sister Gale are here for a weekend vist and guess what he brought me? Yup, a Water Buffalo, I am so happy, it's so cute and he is a sweet man. thank you big brother, you're a gem.

I'm such a DORK!

2008-06-25T20:45:00.003-07:00

I am looking all over the interwebs for pictures of smallish bathrooms. It seems the noise that I kept hearing last night was a leak somewhere in our master bath. We now need to speed up the remodeling process a little. The insurance won't cover old pipes with new leaks so we're on our own, stupid insurance. We only need to take the bathroom down to the studs, replace all of the old pipe, retile, drywall and paint...no bigee. Anyway I've been looking and this is what I found.

The following is an actual conversation.

"Hey, here's a website called 'Well Hung Sinks'. That's a catchy slogan, don't you think? They have sinks that are attached to the wall and the pipes are covered. They're kinda cool looking" she said.

"Is there a big picture? Big enough that I can see it pretty good?", he said getting up to come look at my computer screen.

"That's an ok sink, I don't hate it. But that website says WALL hung sinks, NOT well hung sinks. He says with a big laugh.

I try to make like I was joking all along, but I'm caught. I swear it said Well hung sinks, cuz that would work too.

Told you I was a dork!

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

2008-06-23T17:56:00.001-07:00

Guess who I found? Enjoy, it's heart warming as usual.

Where to start?

2008-06-22T16:39:00.011-07:00

When we were last together I blogged about my oldest brother. What I failed to tell you was that I had been in Idaho again since coming home from the funeral of my brother in law. so I saw him as well. My two sisters who had already planned a trip to Idaho were not able to make the funeral so I came back to Gales house and we had a 'sisters' weekend with the occasional brother thrown in.

BUT before that we had the best celebration of the whole year. We graduated from High School. Yeah!!!! We have provided another producing source of taxable income for the United States of America. I am so proud of our Sweet Daughter, she's Smart and Beautiful. I cried of course, as I know this is the first of many milestones. It was very emotional for everyone.

BUT before I actually went to Boise we had the Secret Garden tour to go on. We have done this for the last several years. The deal-e-o is to exchange our tickets at the Town Center and get a map of where all the gardens are. We were a bit pressed for time because I had a plane to catch later in the day. The day was typical Secret Garden tour weather, overcast with the promise of sun and the threat of rain, neither of which arrived. We headed toward the car, in spite of the first two tours within walking distance...we had things to do, time is of the essence.

As we arrived at the car we heard, "OH! You're not going on the tour? We were going to follow you." Two nice looking ladies said to us in unison as they looked confused.

"No," I laughed, "we're on the quick tour, I have a plane to catch this afternoon, but would you like a ride with us?"

"Sure, why not" they said, and they got into our car. All of those things that you hear about letting strangers in your car were totally thrown out the window. Besides whose ever heard of gardeners being serial killers....really.

The gardens were great as usual, this house below is on the property of the first school house in our little town. Very nice and pretty hard to find 3 acres surrounding a house these days, but I'd take it.

The last garden on the tour was a bonus. We brought them to our house where they could see a real work in progress. Those nice ladies even offered to come back and weed, now wasn't that nice?

Then Sweet Husband took me to the airport.

I got into Boise about 8pm and was greeted by two very large smiles on two of my three sisters. After a sister group hug, we collected my luggage and made our way to Hooterville. It was Festival weekend in Hooterville, where we walked over to check out the haps in the park. It was an odd sensation to be in a place that had been the center of my summer universe when I was a teen yearning for freedom and fun. But those wants were replaced with different one. I can't even remember the last time I attended the Festival and all the events that surround it. I hadn't really missed much...same ol carnival rides and Elephant ears. What made it good was the company, that was the most enjoyable.

The next day being Father's Day, we girls piled into the car and headed off to "visit" dad. Our dad was interned at the Idaho Veterans Memorial Cemetery a couple of years ago and I hadn't been back to see the plaque. It was pretty cool to see, especially on Father's Day. I miss him. I think he would be very proud of all his girls.

We then did sister things like shop a bit, have lunch, go see Aunt and Uncle and our two groovy cousins visit with them. It was a very fun day and nothing....I SAY NOTHING, could spoil it. We got back to Gales where we ate a bit of supper and watched a show on HGTV. It was fun, relaxing and as you can see, 'blog worthy'. It's BW, because we haven't been together for a few years to just do sister things. But the best was yet to come. The next evening we went to dinner with Richard of the previous blog and his very nice wife Kathy. OMG, we laughed and laughed and laughed, it was so fun, I want to do it again VERY soon. Can we huh???

When I get home a day or so later I am reminded that there is visit planned with Karl of

White Noise and his lovely wife Darlene. White Noise is THE BEST Canadian blogger, eveh! When I was single I did some dating of men that I met online and ultimately met Sweet Husband and married him. I equate meeting Karl and Darlene like meeting a date for the first time after knowing them online. The correspondence went on for awhile and then it led to meeting on the phone and then in person. Well we've been reading Karl's blog for a while and they were coming to Seattle so of course we had to invite to meet up, so we did. We took them to one of our favorite restaurants where we stuffed ourselves and yakked and yakked and yakked. We've made some new old friends. They are great and I know that if we ever find ourselves near Calgary, we are going to visit them on their home turf.

There is, however, one thing I hope doesn't make the headlines. "Canadians invade Seattle and capture US flag"

Two of Seven and Six of Seven

2008-06-19T18:30:00.005-07:00

This is a man that I have known my whole life, but never really had a relationship with. He being the second oldest of seven children and me being the second to the youngest, we never spent a lot of time in the same house. When I was in first grade, he joined the Navy and by the time he was retired after 20 or so years, I was well on my way to my own set of choices.

This is a man that taught me at the tender age of four (me, not him), how to tie my shoes. He did so well at this lesson that, to this day, I can still tie my shoes.

Unbeknownst to him, this same man once disappointed me at Christmas, when the promised water buffalo never arrived to my awaiting arms. I was so excited, and yet strangely naive. I wasn't really sure what a water buffalo was, but I knew that I wanted one, particulary if someone was going to give me one.

I can still visualize his handwriting on the lined paper that he used to write letters home when he was stationed in Vietnam. I often wonder if my mom kept any of those letters, or even what she thought when she received one. I really wonder what they said and the stories they told, or if he just wanted money.

One year when he broke up with a girl friend around Christmas time, my sisters and I were the recipients of a gift set of the perfume Chanel No5, this we were lead to belive may have been destined for a different set of wrists. Even now, when I detect the scent of Chanel No5, I think of him. Please correct me if I'm wrong, maybe he thought that 10 year olds should smell so good. OR....we really did need to smell better....augh!

This is the guy that loves Nascar, a sport I really don't understand, but I don't really have to, do I? He also loves tinkering and fixing stuff. He's a first class mechanic and "a something something" Class Petty officer in the Navy. He lost some of his hearing in service to our country and they've rewarded him by ignoring that fact....bastard$.

This is the man that I could never recall how old he was until one day I got good at math and figured out that he is exactly 10 years older than me. But most of all he is my oldest brother and I love him. I present to you, Richard.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2008-06-18T06:50:00.003-07:00

Yeah, I know!

Saturday meme

2008-06-14T07:44:00.006-07:00

Hi all, I 'jacked' this meme from Kathy over at the Junk Drawer. Read the instructions and play along if you want.

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Google Image Search or same type of search engine for pictures.

2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image. You can’t search forever for a certain image.

3. Copy and paste each in any program that you can post the pictures in a mosaic pattern. You can post them 3 X 4 or 4 X 3. We used Microsoft Paint below.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?…Carla, and yes that really isn't me in the photo

2. What is your favorite food?… Tacos, I could eat them until I pop. I know, what a mess.

3. What high school did you go to?… Emmett High School, Emmett Idaho. AND I know how to read write and perform the occasional arithmetic.

4. What is your favorite color? … Azure, it's such a big color

5. Who is your celebrity crush?… Edgar Martinez of Seattle Mariner fame. Eddy, as I fondly call him, would be heart broken to meet me this late in his life. It's really best that we leave it at that.

6. What is your favorite drink?… Aqua,wasser,maim,viz,eau water. I really do crave this stuff. And it's good for you in any language.

7. What is your dream vacation?… Tropical...it has all the right stuff, sun, sand and my husband. Ahhhhh I long for that.

8. What is your favorite dessert?… Brownies, with. out. a. doubt. They have to be dense and soft with just the right amount of crunchy edge. mmmm brownies.

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?… Independently wealthy, that is what I want to be when I grow up. But as I think about it, being independently wealthy is probably as illusive as actually growing up.

10. What do you love most in life?… My Sweet Husband, he is the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd take him over tacos and brownies any day of the week.

11. What is one word that describes you?… I'm gonna go with Goofy. I am a self admitted goof. Perhaps the single reason that I won't be growing up anytime soon.

12. What is your blog name?… Blog-o-licious.

Now wasn't that fun?

Loves me some maps

2008-06-12T21:05:00.003-07:00

I don't think a day goes by where I don't say, "I love the Google". I like that instant gratification of finding out facts, bargains or news at the tip of my fingers. Some people spend time watching TV, I spend time dinking around on the Internet....it's so entertaining. I'd go so far to say it's the best invention, well since toast, um and butter.

Way back a LONG time ago an old boy friend of mine got a computer and a subscription to Compuserve. He was showing me all the bells and whistles, actually I think it was a triangle and a kazoo, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why he needed 'all that'. 'All that' wasn't much of anything, come to think of it. I think all that was available was a news service with no picture, ads or stories, just headlines. And email? I don't think it had even been invented yet. Or if it was invented not alot of people were using it. The cost to have this luxury was some ridiculous amount of money, like $30 per hour to connect. The good thing was...there wasn't much to connect to.

I like that fact that I kind of grew up with computers and have seen their evolution. I remember the start up screen was a DOS screen with the following...c:win. I had no idea what I was doing, I was simply following instructions. It was so new and exciting to me. I know I'm such a beginner nerd, but that was big stuff to me, I'm no programmer. But at least I knew what that screen was. Yes I'm stating the obvious to many people, but the rest of us take computers and the Internet for granted. When the Internet 'goes down' I feel sort of disconnected, but adapt quickly with realtiy staring me in the face. I also like the fact that the internet has the capabilities to make some places to live, bearable. Remote to work....no problem. I LOVE that.

well that's all for now....do you like the picture of my house from space? Looks like we were all home that sunny day, look at all the cars in the driveway. And the green umbrellas up over the patio. Home Sweet Home.

well now!

2008-06-04T15:27:00.003-07:00

Click pic to embiggen

Give me a lighten up

2008-06-02T16:55:00.007-07:00

So I'm thinkin that I need to lighten up a bit because that is our family trait, to use humor as our best coping mechanism. So with that said, I have one story totally unrelated to anything and then something else.

Today Sweet Husband and I were coming out of a store when I heard the 'clack clack clack' of cheap high heels behind me. Women you know what I'm talking about, the heals are hollow, generating a 'clacking' sound when one walks so that it is heard from quite a distance. Every cheap shoe store carries them, I know, I used to buy them.

I turn my head to the left, glancing slightly behind me. I see these ginormous breasts trying to be contained in a 2 sizes too small white tank top coming straight at me. I could clearly see the under garment outline, and it was straining, yearning to breath free. The defying of gravity was amazing. She clacked on past and I muttered to Sweet Husband, "hooker" like I always do when I see a hoochie mama like that. Why yes, I am judgemental.

As she clacked past us, I was looking at her 4 inch heals wondering how in the hell she could even walk in them when I was greeted with a sight I'd never seen previously. Her pants were tucked. Into. Her. Butt. Crack. Those pants didn't move, not one bit,they were at their destination. I was fascinated. I've never seen anything like this, and I was curious. Was this some new fashion that I wasn't aware? Was it actually paint, instead of clothes, like Sweet Husband said? Or was she a mime, mimes wear all white right? I am left to wonder.

This wasn't one of those accidental wedgies, she had to have had help. The kind of help that requires another set of hands and a special wedgie tool, like the Ronco Wedgie-matic. What it did was separate the orbs of her buttocks into near perfection, well except for the size and shape. There was clear separation of right cheek and left cheek, how did she do it? More importantly why? But I could tell she was a working girl. She was carrying a brief case. (Sweet Husband just said, he didn't notice a brief case, go figure)

NEXT>>>>

While we were strolling through Best Buy today I told Sweet Husband that depressed people spent more money than those that weren't depressed and perhaps that we needed to go look at TV's. He then said, "If Rocky will be looking down at us from heaven we're gonna need a big screen".

2008-05-28T08:52:00.002-07:00

Written yesterday on the plane.

Today something happened that I wasn’t ready for. This day was coming, expected, dreaded. But this day came because of and in spite of all those things. Today my sister closest to me in age, lost her husband. All we can guess at this early time, is that he died in his sleep. I cannot begin to imagine the pain that she must be in. The only thing I knew was that I needed to be there with her, so as I type, we are winging our way there. I don’t know what we will do when we arrive other than hug and cry. Sweet Husband asked what we would do for Gale once we got there…I don’t have an answer other than, just be there.

I hate this part of being an adult. It doesn’t make any sense and I don’t know how to cope with it. Death makes me cling to my husband more and more and I only know that I want to spend as many precious minutes with him as possible. Call me a nerd, a sap, a wishful thinker, I don’t really care what you call me, I chose my husband because he was and is perfect for me. I only know that Rocky was perfect for Gale. What will happen now? How can she live in the house without him? What will happen how? I have my whole life planned with Sweet Husband and death doesn’t figure into the picture for a very very very long time. Death sucks. I love Rocky. He was a great individual and it makes me incredibly sad that he won’t be coming to our house this summer and bringing beer. My eyes well up with tears right now and it’s hard to type. It sucks so much. 50sometihing is too short of a life and I know that he had some incredible adventures, 99% of which I don’t have a clue about. How does Inez go on without Juan? I can’t get enough air right now, it hurts so bad.

I hurt for my sister, his son, their children, his mom and dad, Jody his aunt/sister in law, I hurt for Sweet Husband and myself because we will miss him so much. Rocky Colton is and was a great person.

Decoration Day

2008-05-26T08:24:00.005-07:00

A few years back Sweet Husband and I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC. While we were there we went to Arlington National Cemetery. That visit was a sobering and somber time, one that moved me like I hadn't expected. At the Tomb of the Unknown I was moved to tears as we watched the laying of a wreath performed with precision by the color guard. I didn't expect to be so emotionally involved, it seemed like such a personal thing for the family that was participating, yet I didn't feel like an intruder. It was a very beautiful thought provoking moment.

I must have a thing about cemeteries, because I frequently find myself in them. It's not like I'm looking for my future home, I simply find them fascinating. So today being Decoration Day, my thoughts lean toward cemeteries, again. Recently we were in the famous cemetery Recoleta of Buenos Aries and we actually visited it several times while there. I don't view cemeteries as scary nor am I afraid of all the dead people surrounding me. I've never thought cemeteries were creepy. Many, if not all, of the cathedrals and churches that I've visited while in Europe have the cemeteries on adjacent grounds, which makes it easy to visit both. Then of course there are all the 'important' folks buried inside the chapel with their various shrines. That history goes back a long ways.

In the little town where I grew up, the cemetery is on a bluff overlooking the valley, town and the river below. I remember on Decoration Day when I was little, my mom would cut Iris from the garden and we would take mason jars filled with water to hold the flowers and we would place them on the graves of my grandparents and the fine folks that went before us. To this day, when I smell the scent of an Iris, it always reminds me Decoration Day.

A few years back before I got married, I was in my hometown on Memorial Weekend. I was with my brother Phil and his wife Jody and we found ourselves wandering around the local cemetery. I'm sure when we arrived there, we had a purpose and knew who we were going to visit, but that purpose alludes me now. Of course as people die the cemetery grows so we wandered around recalling all the people that made this their final home. In the old days there were elaborate headstones very tall and imposing and very impressive. Today most headstones are flat into the ground, my only guess is to make it easier to mow. How boring. It was an interesting walk, talking about all of these people some I knew and alot I didn't. More than once there was the comment, "Oh, I didn't know they had died" or "Where's so-n-so buried" and off we would go to relive a story about a departed friend.

We went to the grandparents graves and paid our respects and then on to Jody's dad's grave where she told us the story of his internment as a prisoner of war during WWII and his life when he returned home. We walked around for no less than an hour and I'd do it again this weekend if I were there.

I know why I love cemeteries, it's the history, right here in front of us. There have been a lot of people that have come and gone before us and that's not likely to end when I die. I do know that today we have Memorial Day to honor the men and women that have died in service to our country, it's not the mattress sale at the JC Penny. Nor is it about a Monday off from work or the beginning of summer, it's about our rich history that has made us who we are.

Oh, yeah, I just remembered, where headed off to New Orleans soon. I just walked past Sweet Husbands desk where he is doing research for our trip and as he's looking at Google Earth he says, "Wow, there are cemeteries everywhere." See, it's not just me.

Word of the day!

2008-05-22T06:46:00.005-07:00

INCONGRUOUS

1. out of keeping or place; inappropriate; unbecoming: an incongruous effect; incongruous behavior.
2. not harmonious in character; inconsonant; lacking harmony of parts: an incongruous mixture of architectural styles.
3. inconsistent: actions that were incongruous with their professed principles

ap photo Andre Penner

Brazilian Indians ride a bus in Altamira, Brazil. Amazon Indians and activists continue to protest a proposed hydroelectric dam on the nearby Xingu River

Wait, I forgot to tell you

2008-05-20T21:56:00.006-07:00

Today when I was at an 'office' store getting copies I noticed an older guy wearing shorts and a tank top sitting in a desk chair chatting on his cell phone. He was deep into a conversation about the concert last night, blah blah blah and so on.

I stepped outside to get in my car and low and behold there was a cute little Miata with the top down parked so close that I couldn't get the door open. I stepped back into the store and said to the gent sitting down as if in his own living room.

"Scuse me, scuse me, is that your Miata?"

"What?" I repeat the question. "sure, why?" he said.

"Could you move it please, so I could get into my car, you parked too close."

Rolling his eyes, he asked how did I know it was his car, to which I replied.

"You're the only horses ass I could see sitting in the store like it was your living room and figured you were treating the parking lot like your very own garage." To which he went out and moved his car, I then got into my car and left.

Don't roll your eyes at me buddy.

hey there what's so important!

2008-05-20T19:31:00.003-07:00

We'll here I am finally. I haven't had anything to write about for the past little while so I haven't written anything. I suppose if I don't have anything nice to say I shouldn't say anything, eh? Actually I'm trying to write a paragraph and see how many times I can write the word anything in it... ya with me so far? Anything goes.

I've been busy but haven't really wanted to sit in front of a computer after sitting in front of a computer all day. The weather is finally cooperating and when we can, we work in the yard. We have all sorts of projects again this year including replacing a fence with the same fence but in a new position, huh? You'll see when we're finished. There's the usual gardening stuff, like weeding and then we'll bark the yard. We are in a pretty good maintenance stage so it's just thinking up some new gardeney stuff to do.

Work is the same... In our off time when we are forced to be in the house after dark, we've discovered Guitar Hero for the Xbox 360. For the record I ROCK at kindergarten level. I'm a maniac with three fingers, but you add the blue button of death and I'm total shit! It's quite hilarious. Frankly it's better than a driving or killing game. I can't do those at all. In fact, if I were kidnapped by some renegade game developers and told that the only way I would be let loose was to drive my way out of Springfield during the Simpson game, reach all levels and get all the different cars, then they just might let me go. Well guess what, it would take me a lifetime to do that. I wonder if I were really forced to play all the time, would I get better? Anyone want to give me a grant to study that facet of gaming? Anyone? Anyone?

As I type this the family is battling it out over songs that you would think you would growtired of, but strangely, no. Those songs play the endless auto replay sync in my head for days to come. I do wonder if there are country and western version of songs for those who aren't particularly into Rock. Then of course there would be the polka version for the Midwest group and the reggae for the more relaxed crowd. I just might be able to conquer that more relaxed version. I think I'm on to something. Easy listening Guitar Hero

In the past, I've been in study groups for Microsoft and I got a call one day to qualify me for an upcoming study. They asked about Xbox 360 and what games I played and how often. How often do I play Grand Theft Auto? Never. How often do I play Splinter Cell. Never. How often do I play Madden 08? Never. Do you play with your friends online? No. How many hours a week do you play Xbox? less than 1. This is the statement that came next. "Miss, I don't think that you are the demographic that we are looking for." Ya think? When are they going to start marketing to 49 year old women that don't like to kill things or drive in racing games. My perfect game is a logic game where I solve puzzles, and see beautiful scenery and collect prizes. All the while maintaining a real time aging process. I'll let you know when they call back.

"Very well, I accept"

2008-05-14T20:50:00.007-07:00

A meme to share with you.

Here’s what I did :

"Post the rules on your blog.

The rules!
- Write six random things about yourself in a blog post
- Tag six people in your post
- Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog, or call them,
- Let the tagger know your entry is up--it's up!
Next, write your 6 things (duh). Hee hee, I think the Duh was added later but I liked it so I kept it. And I copied this from Vegas Princess so I left that in too."

Shall we?

1. As I type I have the keyboard on my lap. My legs are up on my desk with my feet on crossed at the ankles, and I'm totally leaned back in my chair....how's that for random.

2. When I smell lilacs for the first time every spring, I think of my grandma on my dads side. She died when I was very young, but I recall that she had lilacs at her house.

3. I am 99.9% sure that each of my 6 siblings and their grown children, (if they have any) all own their own homes or will within days of this post. I think that's pretty awesome in this day and age. Now, let's see if we can keep them, huh?

4. I once told some co-workers as we were flying on the corporate jet, that one day I would have my very own personal jet. They laughed at me, I can't wait to fly in for an hour or so and ask if they want to go for a spin.
Stop laughing, my life isn't over yet. Besides, it's good to have a goal.

5. Once when I saw a full moon rising, I cried for the fact that I would most likely never set foot on it. ya think?

6.I usually give people nicknames and sometimes accidently address them that way. oops.

so I'm gonna switch this up a little. I'm going to MEME NON bloggers. The lurkers if you will. Post your 6 random things here. OR start your own blog, it's fun and easy.

Ellen
Jim
Loree
Joanne
Valerie
Mitch
You know who you are.

Legs

2008-05-12T21:42:00.004-07:00

I been working on some video skills. You know finding stuff and setting it to music because it's to freakin cold to work in the garden.

ps, it's really hard to typ e with a cat on my lap.

uninspired blogger

2008-05-10T07:27:00.003-07:00

I can't think of anything to write about so enjoy this LOL Cat that I builded.

Tacky Tuesday

2008-05-06T19:23:00.004-07:00

My new friend,Kathy from the Junk Drawer has a great funny blog. In fact she is so funny and entertaining the she posted a picture I sent her. But that's beside the point, someone is stealing her blog posts and posting them as their own. I've never heard of such a thing. I know for a fact she is outraged and rightfully so. Please I invite you to go to her blog and read and stay for a vist...she's funny!

...and then please tell me what is the point of stealing someone's blog posts, that confuses me.

Someone you should know

2008-05-01T06:47:00.007-07:00

Way back in the dark ages when I was young and nerdy and in high school, (did you know those words are synonymous?) I met an amazing person. It all started when I was palling around with a group of girls roughly all the same age, at the church we all attended. I think it was more of a 'thrown in the middle of it situation' rather than, 'I'm choosing you to be my friend situation', mostly because of how churchy events were scheduled but it worked. There were about 6 or 7 of us and we'd spend lunch times together, going to the school dances as a crowd and having slumber parties as well as all those other girly things we would do. I wasn't in the 'party' crowd, it didn't appeal to me But I was in a group where we laughed. A LOT. We did have a lot of fun and I have very fond memories.

One of the girls had two really cute brothers too, and a farm, with horses, and cats, and snowmobiles to ride in the winter and I wasn't intimidated by her parents. In fact I liked her parents so much that I started spending a lot more time with them. Her mother was this young beautiful woman with a funny accent. She had gorgeous blue eyes and the blondest hair I'd ever seen. Her husband was a father and husband first, a successful farmer and also a tenor in the church choir. This man actually had a full ride to Julliard when he was a young man. Unfortunately he never got to go, but stayed home to work on the family farm. I'd often wonder how different his life would have been. However, I digress.

This family was different than my family. Don't get me wrong all families are different. I love my family and childhood, and it's what I know. This family welcomed me into their home as a part-time participant. But I wasn't the only one, they hosted exchange students, and when the older son went to college this family would let him bring some of his 'city friends' home with him and teach them 'farm life'. The eye candy was good when they were baling hay,but I was way too shy to do anything about it.

As I grew up and went to college I became even better friends with 'the mom', even though the daughter and I were in the same college. While in high school 'the mom' was very supportive of me and we had countless talks on many subjects, mostly about my future. She had great hopes for me and knew that whatever I did I would be successful. It's not that I didn't get that at home, it just wasn't as verbal, and I ate it up from her. Best of all she was funny and had a great sense of humor, and could take our teasing about her accent.

While in my junior year of college 'the dad' of the family succumbed to cancer at the very early age of 41. It had been a long hard fight and it was the first time for me that I saw the ugliness that cancer is. This young family was wounded in a way I wouldn't understand until my own dad died of cancer in 1995. 'The mom' was devastated, her whole life was going to be very different and sad without him. They were a great couple and I never saw or heard a stern word from either one of them toward the other. They were so in love and happy.

Not long after the death she sold the farm and had a very similar house built closer into town, had a garden, watched her children grow up and become parents. 'The mom' had always had a thirst for knowlege so enrolled in the local university to study language. As a young adult myself I had moved away after college and was in Seattle by now, so in the summers when she would come to the UW to study, we would continue to spend time together when we could both carve out those hours. What I saw in her was a dedicated person that had a goal that I wasn't particulary aware of, but I saw the passion. She of course went on to gradutate with honors and at the age of 60 joined the Peace Corp to teach English to young people in Hungary. That in and of itself is amazing- to join the Peace Corp at 60 years of age.

When she returned from her two years with the Peace Corp, she met a man and eventually got remarried. They have now been married over ten years. She and her husband came and danced at my wedding 7 years ago so the great friendship has continued. A year or so ago when Sweet Husband and I were at their home in Idaho, we sat down to visit, she wanted to read something to us. She read to us about a young girl that was being taken prisioner by the Nazi's. She continued for a short time describing the horrible feelings, smells and terror of the situation. She paused, looked up at us and with tears in her eyes, told us that she was that little girl. She at the age of 70 was for the first time able to face the demon of her youth, she had been a prisionor of war in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. I had no idea, after all of these years. She went on to tell us that once she got to the United States that she wouldn't think about having been in a concentration camp anymore because is was so horrific. So she hid it away for a very long time. But something changed in the last little while and she felt it necessary to write her story. From her demeanor as a very positive and happy person, it is something that would have never been suspected, she hid that secret very well.

I'd been waiting for her book and several weeks ago she sent me a copy and I read it. It was especially hard for me because I know her. It was equally hard because it was told through the eyes of a child, a child that should never been put in that situation. But it was also an amazing read because I love her so much.

Today in the Idaho Statesman there is a story about her. I've been waiting for this story because when we spoke last week she said that she was being interviewed. I told her that I read the Statesman every day online and that I would look for it. I invite you to read the link, she really is someone that you should know. I also urge you to read her book, her story needs to be told too.

Here I am!

2008-04-30T17:43:00.005-07:00

The other night I had to be out of town overnight and I stayed at a 'local inn'. It was the sort of inn that reminded me of Europe. Where when I walked down the hall the doors to vacant rooms were open and inviting me to come in and partake of it's luscious environment. I recall staying at such a place in Switzerland where my then boyfriend and I actually stepped into an open room and...oh wait, sorry there goes the phone.

OK, I'm back now. Anyway this room was sooooo nice. There were fresh tulips, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, TWO bottles of water and a soaking tub so big that I could do laps. Early in the day when I checked into the room I was so sweaty and hot from setting up and taking down of displays that I couldn't wait to partake in a bath or shower. I was enamored with my room and wanted to lap it up as much as possible. I turned on the FM radio to the classical station, turned on the faucet to this huge tub and poured in the bath salts. I was in bathy-heaven. I stepped into the tub with out getting high centered and settled in for a lengthy soak. I took a deep breath wanting to relax after a hards day work. I took another deep breath and started to cough. What the hell was that smell? A room this lovely shouldn't have a stench this bad and I KNEW it wasn't me. I recognized the smell, it was dead mouse. ICK! It's one of those smells that I can smell, based on past experience and it doesn't go away for a good long time. In fact when I was unpacking my suitcase at home I could still smell it. Double ICK! Dead mouse, in a place like this...ICK!

BUT!

The bed. The bed was tall. I am five feet two inches on a good hair day and the landing strip on this bed was at least six inches above my eye level. What sort of demographic are they targeting, the Amazon sort with a love of pillows? I counted 12 pillows on this bed. Pillow overkill. So I did what any sane person would. I stacked the pillows on the east side of the bed where I could then place the alarm clock. Because God only knew that from this lofty height it would be a stretch to see the clock with out glasses or binoculars.

Later in the evening when I'd had a glass of wine, maybe two, could have been three, possibly four, I knew that once I got up there on that bed, I wasn't gonna wanna get down to perhaps pee during the wee hours. HEY, the wee hours, get it? Well I was right, when I did get in about 10:30 after a VERY full day of working and then a dinner with 35 rabid customers I wandered toward my room. Just as I was saying goodnight to my co-workers my phone started ringing the theme song to Hawaii-Five-O. Well of course it was Sweet Husband. I did a few circles of a dance of joy before answering, laughing the whole time...I think I was tipsy. We talked briefly said some mushy goodnight things and that was the evening. ZZ ZZ zz

I barely recall taking out my contact lenses, but I do recall washing my face, cuz I saw the smudges on the wash cloth. I can see up close. I fell up into bed. That worked fine until 6:30am when I woke up to see that I had ALMOST overslept. I was to be in the meeting room at 7am. Good thing I was in the smallest town in the state of Washington and it took 8 seconds to get anywhere. I would LOVE that commute every day. Wait, I have that commute, I work from home most of the time....hah ahah ahahahahahahahahha.

But without the dead mouse smell...ICK!

Happy Friday!

2008-04-25T06:36:00.002-07:00

I present an Engineer's guide to cats. Things we should all know already, but might not.

Question of the day

2008-04-22T18:48:00.004-07:00

I got this logo on a shirt at the "Life is Good" shop in Atlanta, on the way home from South America. Sweet Husband wanted a clean un-sweated in shirt. When he got his, I got one too. This shirt got me to thinking if there was a website for 'Life is Bad' would they have this on their shirt?

Gang Green

2008-04-19T08:05:00.004-07:00

Fer cryin out loud!

2008-04-18T12:18:00.007-07:00

I hope you all have a better weekend than this one is predicted to be. We had a teaser last weekend with a high of 76 on Saturday. Oh well at least we don't spawn tornadoes here.