Happy Birthday Betty

In honor of my mother-in-laws birthday I will replay the moment I first met her. Hubby and I had been dating a couple weeks and he wanted to introduce me to his parents. Of course it had to be a Sunday while they were at church. He came to pick me up early Sunday morning and we headed up for the two and a half hour drive. First we went to the parsonage and his mom happened to be there.

He introduced me and said, 'This is 'the mama'" as he sometimes referred to her and I said, "Hi, the mama." She looked at her son and said, "I like her!" and off she went to take care of her duties at church. Whew!

Thanks for everything, Betty!

More Useless Things You Do Not Need To Know About Me

1. Favorite Childhood Memory
I think it would be getting a puppy for Christmas when I was five. He was in a box and jumped out and hid under the chair where my mom was sitting. She always was his favorite. We had him for 15 years. His name was Husky and he was a poodle.

2. Favorite High School Memory
Ugh....this one is tough because I did not like high school. I guess it was getting A pluses when I gave oral reports in language arts class. I was so shy and never said a word so I think I surprised people when I gave speeches.

3. First car...a 1976 green Gremlin for which I paid $750 with my own money. I bought it 1983. It was terrible in snow(rear wheel drive) and it had a crack on the side of the windshield which I never replaced. I think I sold it for $300 about four years later. The one good thing about it was it always started in the winter.

4. What was my room like as a kid? Let's see, we moved into our house when I was five and the former owner was an artist. One room had Bambi painted on one side and Flower (the skunk) on the other side. The walls were pink. I had a full sized bed with a bedspread that had large pink and yellow flowers. What was also cool was I had shutters on my windows. When I decided to go to college in town, I asked to redo my room so I had that room for a long time that way. When I redid it it was hard to get rid of Bambi and Flower but I thought now that I was in college I should paint over it. Come to find out it was washable and it washed right off!

4. Favorite article of clothing...this one is a no brainer. Behind our house there was a sand pit and kids from the high school used to hang out there. One day when I was walking through the area, I found a sweater someone had left behind. I took it home and washed it and I think I put an ad in the paper for lost and found. No one claimed it so I kept it. The reason I liked it was because it must have been hand made, it was like a wrap and long enough to cover my bum. It was off white in color. I often imagined my self riding a horse in the winter with a cowboy hat, suede boots, jeans and this sweater/jacket. I wore it all the time until my mom had had it and threw it out (it was getting holes in it). I wore it all year during my senior year.

5. Favorite stuffed animal. I had a pillow shaped like Snoopy and I always slept with it (along with my many other animals so I only took up a tiny part of the bed).

6. Strangest thing to happen to me as a kid. Every night when I went to bed I could see my parents bedroom door slightly ajar. Many times I swore there was ghost looking at me from their door. Months later I finally figured out it was when my dad went to bed, he hung his white t-shirt on the door and that is what I was seeing every night!

7. I spent hours designing dresses with the bolts of fabric my mother had in her cedar chest.

8. My favorite book in junior high was 'The Outsiders' by S.E. Hinton.

9. The first movie that scared the daylights out of me was 'The Exorcist'. The first romantic movie I saw in a theater was "An Officer and a Gentleman". The first movie I ever cried at in a theater was "Steel Magnolias". The first movie I saw multiple times in a theater was 'Star Wars'.

10. The first album I bought was Barry Manilow(stop laughing!) I think I bought a total of five albums my entire life (has to do with the fact that I am hearing impaired I guess). I also bought Shaun Cassidy, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel and Elvis. I think I still have them around somewhere.

I guess that is enough useless stuff for today....BYE!

Spring Vacation

The kids have been home from school this week on spring vacation. It took me a couple days to get used to them being around again but by the end of the week, it was fun. (hee-hee)

We went to a friends house for a playdate one day. Today my daughter went to our neighbors just down the street and it was so nice out I simply had to get out. My five year old and I took the dog for a walk. I had been warned by hubby the dog likes to pull hard and chokes himself when walking so I kept the leash short and he walked pretty well right beside me. My son had invented a metal detector and took it along on our walk. We found plastic bottles, wooden poles but no metal objects. Because he is only five, he made it out of paper so it blew in the wind so it was also a wind detector (winds were blowing south today - unusual for our area).

Later, my daughter and I went to the craft store. She is learning embroidery in school and really likes it. I told her I used to do it when I was her age so we went and picked up some patterns and some supplies. I hope I can finish these patterns unlike the ones I started all those years ago.

This weekend we will meet the new addition to the family, a puppy my sister-in-law got this week. She has waited a long time to get a dog. The kids are so excited and cannot wait to meet her and I admit I am looking forward to meeting her, too.

Spring is here, people! Whoo-hoo!

Believe It or Not

My daughter is into Ripleys Believe It or Not books just like I was when I was her age so I thought I would do my own things that are good about having RP....Believe it or Not!

1. I think God gave me many things to help since I have RP (tunnel vision and night blindness). For instance, a very hard noggin. I am always bumping my head and never once have I had a concussion or split my head open and needed stitches. Football players make a lot of money but they do not have hard heads because they have to wear helmets but I get a hard head!

2. Same for my height...I am not too tall as to hit my head on any open cupboard doors yet tall enough to ride a roller coaster.

3. Once my sister in law and I and my daughter were eating ice cream cones...the old fashion waffle cones that take forever to eat. She was constantly dripping on her shirt and said to me, "You are a great ice cream eater....you have not dripped on anything!" I said, "God knew I was sight impaired so he made me a good ice cream eater to make my life easier."

4. I get a handicapped parking tag. Obviously I do not drive, but whoever I am with (whom?) gets to display the tag. It makes me popular with my friends around Christmas time or when it is raining.

5. I cannot see dustbunnies.

6. A big hairy spider could walk right past me and I would never see it.

7. I do not have trouble speaking in front of a large group of people because I only see one person anyway...if I am lucky.

8. People I eat out with steal fries off my plate and I never see it therefore I do not gain as much weight thinking I have already eaten them all up!

9. Hubby thinks I need his arm because I do not know where I am going but it is really because I want to be close to him.

The Weekend

We had a nice weekend...went to Neenah on Saturday. We all played games except for hubby who watched the basketball games on tv. THe kids even got to see their cousins for a bit before we headed home.

Sunday, hubby and the kids took cardboard to the dump and took the car through a car wash. We watched more basketball games and it looks like we have a lot of teams to root for in the NCAA. One is Washington State coached by Tony Bennett which leads me to my only brush with fame even though it is embarrassing, I told this story before....

Tony's father, Dick, coached the men's basketball team at the local college I had returned to after dropping out for a couple years (a long story). Tony was the star of the team and was in a couple of my classes. My dad had worked at the university in the sports complex and was retiring and had a retirement party.

I went to the retirement party and coach Dick Bennett was there...he would soon go on to coach at Wisconsin. I rarely ask dad for favors but I did ask if he could introduce me to coach, a guy whose morals and ethics I had always admired. My dad took me over and introduced me to coach. Trying to think of something to say, I blurted out that I had Tony in a couple of my classes. Coach said, "Tony never told me he had Bernie's (my dad) daughter as a teacher!"

I explained I was a returning student and we laughed it off and I think he felt bad but it made my day talking to him!

Last night we dropped my five year old off at a birthday party and took my daughter out to dinner to celebrate her report card. We then went to the mall where we went to all her favorite stores.

First we stopped at the book store because I wanted to purchase the new Bob Woodruff book (the news anchor wounded in Iraq) but they were sold out. I picked out another book(James Patterson latest), my daughter picked out 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' (used to love that book as a kid) and then I also purchased 'Are You My Mother?" for my son. It is my all time favorite children's book for kids learning to read right along with 'Go Dog. Go' and ironically are both by the same author (I think). Anyway, we had misplaced our copy so I have not had a chance to read it to my son yet and they had it at the book store so we got it. The lady at the check out offered to order the Bob Woodruff book with free shipping sent to my house and I accepted.

After the bookstore we headed to the accessories place for teen girls...spent A LOT of time there but bought nothing. Then over to the teen clothing store, the only one in this mall, and bought two shirts. Finally, we met hubby who had gone to pick up the boy at the final place where we bought my daughter new sheets for her bed.

She loves the leopard print but she calls it 'cheetah girl' print and of course, they had a sheet set with this print on it in the bed size we needed (full, which is hard to find sometimes). It was not on sale and I never buy anything unless it is on sale, but I bought the sheets....she is worth it.

Now her room looks like something out of Elvis's house... we are just missing a few velvet paintings. ...sigh....

They Can Put A Man on the Moon But...

They can put a man on the moon, but ..

....they cannot invent a battery to last more than an hour in a kids toy but the one toy you cannot turn off comes with it's own battery and you have to spend your whole weekend looking for various ways to destroy it.

....they cannot invent a way to get those sticky tags off the glass on picture frames.

...they cannot make kids pants so the knees do not wear out within a week.

...they cannot figure out a way to recycle old computers. We have at least five old computers no longer in use in our basement. They should self destruct after ten years.

...they cannot figure out a way for the average computer user to buy, setup and use a computer without having several technicians on call or within a two mile radius of the home in case of emergency.

...they cannot invent a bed to make itself, or a bathroom to clean itself. C'mon, can't be harder then getting man to the moon and then getting man back to earth.

...they cannot get cellphones to work more than 50% of the time. Everyday hubby calls me on his way home and we might as well forget it because we spend the whole time trying to figure out what the other person is trying to say.

...they cannot invent a truly universal remote. We must have three universal remotes and about ten original. None are simple, of course.

...cannot figure out how to increase the gas mileage on new cars. Since the automobile was invented, we should be getting like 1,000 miles to the gallon by now instead of 19.

I would go ahead and invent this stuff but I am too busy trying to figure out why my vacuum cleaner does not work properly for the umpteeth time.

Boy, I think we really got lucky finding the church we did. It seems like it has everything we wanted and more. The pastor gives good sermons, the organist is wonderful, the people have been so friendly, I am enjoying the bible study, they have a Monday night service in case you cannot go on Sunday. It seems like there is always something going on such as family movie night, or quilting night or whatever interest you have, there is bound to be a group.

Today, I stayed home with my son because has had a cough and fever the last couple days. My husband and daughter went and when I talked to them later, my husband said there is a guy at church who also has RP, the eye disease I have. What is the chance of finding another person with this rare disease at this small little church?

Now if I can find someone who wants to go swim with the dolphins with me I will really be happy.

Snowbound

It is times like this, when we are stuck in the house for more than a week because of the weather, I think what my mother always told me...."there is always someone worse off than you."

So, I am making a list of things that could make this experience worse.

1. We could have been Katrina victims.....man things are still pretty bad down there and now they are having tornadoes. I read in the paper how one elderly lady survived Katrina, was living in a trailer until her house was rebuilt only to die in a tornado. That really sucks, bigtime.

2. I could still have a job where I would have to absolutley go to work and try to drive in this type of weather. In the old days, I would stress about it all winter. The same went for the college I went to which had two hills with windy roads to get to it and then of course, once you left you had to try to maneuver your way down without going off the road or running into somebody.

3. I am really glad I do not have to be a garbage pick up person or mail person trying to do my job in this weather.

4. I am thankful I am not one of the farmers out in Colorado where they had so much snow, they had to drop food supplies from helicopters in front of the cows so they could eat.

5. I would not like to be a newsanchor person because you have to get to work, look happy all the time and be nice. Although, they get paid a lot so I do not feel too sorry for them. They probably have limos that take them to and from work anyway.

6. I would hate to be in a prison or mental hospital right now or any time. Although it really bugs me the prison guys get better heatlh care than most of the country and get three meals a day.

7. What about all our soldiers and their families? THey do so much and here I am complaining because I am stuck in the house for a few days.

Well, I do not really feel better, but my perspective has changed so that is good. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to my mom's to celebrate her birthday which we were supposed to do last Sunday but we were snowed in. Oh...my brother just called and said they cannot go tomorrow so we will meet mom sometime for dinner next week. With the way things are going, we will probably spend mom's birthday together sometime around Easter. At least, we will be really dressed up then!