Ike is Back

We have never told you all about Ike. He is a gorgeous cat that lives on upper La Cresta. He is a long haired siamese looking cat - good size - but not Eddie size. He likes people. Since Mont & I started walking he has greeted us and accepted our strokes faithfully. He runs ahead and lies down farther up the walk when we finish the petting, ready for more. I always can hear the jingle of his tag when he hears us coming and comes to meet us.

Several months ago - no more Ike! We worried since he does roam in the twilight. For about 4 months we didn't see him - then one night there he was again - but obviously limping and recovering. We saw him infrequently after that for a while. But now he has made his appearance more regularly again and looks as healthy and hale as when we first met him. Monday as we walked I heard the jingle first as usual and nudged Mont. Ike had heard us, but was across the street high up on a lawn ahead. He leaped as he ran quickly across and down the lawn to the steps giving access to the street and acroos the street to us. I tell you, that sound and sight was delightful. To be so anticipated and sought after by a cat. WOW! We felt special! I don't think any one could contain that cat in a house 24 hrs a day. He takes such joy in people and knows our voices and steps!

Maybe someday we'll remember to take the camera and get a picture!

and another one down

I just sent Sarah back to school today after 6 days down. She seems to have made it through the day, which is great. However, Caleb called me about an hour ago and said, "Come get me... I'm sick." *sigh* He's running a fever and has a massive headache. *sigh again*

NEW BLOG FEATURE: BUMPER STICKER COMEBACKS

Let's see if this feature has any lasting interest, for all family political persuasions

SEEN ON:
Feminist Jeep -
"It is an affront to truth to treat dishonesty with complaisance"
COMEBACK:
"It is an affront to intelligent dialogue to post pseudo-intellectual bumper stickers with spelling errors"

Day trip to the Coast

Here are a couple of pics from when Marilyn & I went to the coast for a day. Well, the Studabaker was on our way over & I thought it was cool - as they had not been made in decades. As you can see, it was a real stormy day - very enjoyable.

More Vancouver Pics

From the arrival dock on Granville Island, looking toward the public market- in the background is a bridge the connects Kitsilano to the Vancouver Peninsula.

Mark in the foreground, Jakie in the background checking out the Totems in Stanley Park

Sorry blurry. He moved. Jakie at the Model Trains Museum. It was an impressive set up. This landscape of trees, cliffs and mountains was probably 6 ft high and 50 feet long, with three different trains running on tracks at all different levels on the landscape.

Work & Fun

Today was the 2nd Sunday of our quilt sale for our missions convention. Mont took this picture while we were setting up before very many people were there. Last week we sold many quilts and these were those left today. We sold more today. I made the bright mone called attic windows, and also the one to my right with the four overlapping squares in each block. It sold today. We made several thousand dollars for missions in these 2 weeks. - Others sell all through the year - mostly baby quilts.

We saw Amazing Grace and really liked it!! I don't think it is a 'sing together after' type of movie. Everyone was totally silent - if like me they were obsorbing the impact of the film and truth in their own hearts.

mea culpa

I think I need to apologize to all of you. We Naughtons are using more than our fair share of the winter cold & flu season and it's just not equitable. Next year we'll have to handle sign-ups differently.

Let's see, I'm sure you'd like the list.
1. George has been off and on flu-ish since mid-week last week. He only worked part of Thursday and was home the rest of the week.
2. I felt yucky for a couple of days, but mostly just a bit off and on, though not as bad as George.
3. Amy is fine. She obviously missed the sign-ups.
4. Caleb has been struggling with a recurring case of otitis externa (swimmer's ear) since last summer. It's popped up four times and he's been through three different antibiotic ear drops. This last week when it popped up again I called in and they wanted to see him. Doctor did a lot of hmming and said he really didn't think it was swimmer's ear but didn't know what it was. It looks nasty, smells weird and he's constantly picking at it. Anyway, they cultured it this time and he's got a referral to an ENT. Prescribed abx ear drop #4. Two days later Doctor calls and says it's a staph infection! Holy cow ~ wasn't expecting that! So now he's on both the ear drop as well as 300 mg of clindamycin 3x/day. Oh, and he's still going to the ENT. Nice to finally know why it keeps recurring, but isn't it unusual that it hasn't spread? He's constantly got his fingers in there no matter how much we're on him.
5. Joshua has been struggling with a myriad of symptoms for awhile now. I thought it was just a bad case of allergies and took him in to see if we could get him something stronger than his loratadine. He was diagnosed with a sinus infection that's likely been going on for several months. Hopefully he'll see a big improvement in his energy levels, focus, stamina, etc.
6. Sarah came down with the stomach flu Wednesday night and was literally up vomiting all night long. Every 15 minutes like clockwork. It was exhausting. Poor thing. By Friday her stomach was all better, but she developed a cough and sore throat. Yesterday she was mostly just fatigued, but this morning her voice is gone and the cough is a bit worse. It's very strange to have Sarah so quiet because she never stops talking. :)

So, am I right? More than my fair share, don't you think? On Friday George was home sick again with Sarah and he kicked me out. I left at 10 a.m. and didn't come home until 6:00 p.m. I shopped my little heart out. Felt so good to get out of here!

Anybody want to come over for dinner? haha!

More Vancouver Pics...

These are from our "Mommy & Jakie Day" while Daddy and Big J were in Whistler.

1. Does Jakie look happy to be on the aquabus or what? He's actually pretending to drive it here, using the life preserver as a steering wheel.

2. The little aquabus that we took back and forth from the island- looking out from Granville Island dock back toward downtown.

3. Jakie on the playground.

I can't post Whistler pics until I get the CD from Mark Sr. of Brad's pics.

PINK PALACE PROBLEM

I reported for Jury Duty last week. I was called for jury panel selection as Potential Juror #20 out of 21, seated behind the defendant, who was charged with Grand Theft Auto in the Costco parking lot where we used to shop in our old neighborhood. After the usual long general questioning (the first question is "Do you know the defendant?") and then detailed questioning process and 2 rounds of eliminations by Defense and Prosecuting Counsel, I was moved up to #7, in the front row of the jury box with a close direct view of the defendant. Glancing, then gazing at the defendant, I raised my hand during a pause in juror questioning and said, "Your Honor, I have a growing feeling that I have known the defendant in my previous neighborhood." She asked me what street I and the defendant lived on and wrote down my answer. She asked the counsels to join her in her chambers for consultation. After they returned she turned to me and said, "Mr. Counsell, you are excused from the jury."
We always wondered where Jose and his brother got the money for all their stuff!

No papparazzi, please

I am feeling semi-glamorous today, because I used my little home foot spa last night AND painted my toenails. I haven't had my toenails done in about two years, so now I am staring at my feet as I prop them on the coffee table. And I attended the Denver premiere of "Amazing Grace" downtown Thursday night. (Did you know the same guy produced the Narnia movie as this one? He spoke at the premiere.) They had a bagpipe corps and we all sang the hymn together to bagpipe accompaniment after the film. Also, someone asked me to be in a film this week. (OK, he really wanted to film Heath but needed Heath's mom, too). So I'm pretty much a celebrity. I have just one question: Do most celebrities stay home grading papers all weekend? Because, if not, maybe I should have done my fingernails, too...

Monday's snow

Mont worked on a project, I sewed on the quilt I'm making for our bedroom there, Gigi did a puzzle and we all enjoyed the beauty of the snow fall - but were glad the next day it was a small storm when we were leaving and the roads were fine.

"Well, in fact, its pwetty messy"

This from a child whose favorite activity is exploding the painstakeingly assembled lego creation his grandparents have just handed him. This from a child who delights in shedding various articles of clothing where ever it strikes him. This from a child who is never satisfied to have the parts of a toy in the box.

I've decided he felt his 'canvas' was not clean and his creativity inhibited, ... he prefers to be the one who makes the mess.

You can't see all the little lego pieces mixed with the crayons in the picture.

Vancouver

1. Our anniversary meal :-)

2. towards Downtown Vancouver from the aquabus heading to Granville Island.

Gigi had fun, too

Don't let the posed picture fool you. Gigi stays inside during the cold weather. She just got dressed up to go outside for a picture. She'd been putting on more layers to combat the cold in the house and went all the way. None of us went outside much because we were trying to keep the doors closed and heat inside. Even with the snow our house did OK heat wise. - just not cozy!

The heating problem was easily solved today when our plumber was there. It's too bad he & Mont didn't talk more on Monday - we could have made the correction ourselves, but he was under a house working when Mont talked to him.

Visitors

Yes, Myron & Ellen came to visit us - arrived a few hours after we did and were real good sports about the cold house. Here we are perched by the fire (note our new lamp and better seating arrangement). The house was OK - sort of - as long as we wore lots of clothes. We went out to breakfast Sunday morning, though, as eating in the dining room was too far from the fire. We were able to eat dinner there, though. Mont & I were toasty in our room as heat rises and the others all had electric blankets so we were fine at night, too.

We're back - praising the Lord

It is Tuesday eve - not Wed but we came home early. Our hydronic heating went out and it was cold and Mont began not feeling well - so we came on home a day early.

But we are praising the Lord because apparently the heating went out right before we arrived because no pipes were burst and the house was not impossibly cold - Myron & Ellen were to arrive shortly after we did. Also our little gas fireplace actually kept the house at a reasonable temp - esp helped by some sun during the day. It was 55 degrees this am after a snow storm Monday afternoon and a clear night. Sunday & Monday it got up to 62 inside.

When we finally reached our plumber he was under a house and so Mont didn't really get to discuss the situation with him - but today enroute home they talked and it seems from our description to be a somewhat common clitch in a new system and he'll be there tomorrow to correct it.

Will send pictures tomorrow when not so blurry eyed - I drove most of the way home as Mont was sorta sickie.

"It's better at the beach" - in Oregon, so "they" say!

THIS is my FIRST week working my ALmost back to normal schedule - YIPPEE!! SOOO yesterday after packing ponchos and a picnic, I corraled a (willing!) Mike & in spite of predicted "weather" and the winds which had ALREADY reached our area, off we went to "whale watch" at our favorite spot - Cape FOULweather! (So named when discovered by Captain James Cooke on his famed exploratory journey.)
Well it turned out I had been misinformed about the current migrations, however, we loved the time away marveling at the stormy seas of Boiler, then Depot Bay(s), & the very BEST Clam Chowder EVER at reputed (Gracies)"Sea Hag" Restaurant! (And the BEST part is that we "get" to do this again in late March or April! :-)
Enroute home, we called ahead and enjoyed our (brief) stop at D&G's (*cough cough*) to leave Darcy a "stack" of her beloved "reading materials" ;-)& etc for the Grands! (Hey - we'll take what time we can get!)
Once home from our "explore", after Mike "stoked" the fire in our now cold house, we enjoyed crawling into our own warm bed! :-)
BTW, this IS what a lot of (crazy?) folks in the GNW actually DO (& ENJOY!) in winter - locally it is known as a "Storm Watch"- best accomplished with an ocean view room, plenty of hot chocolate and a good book! Pop would say "I wonder what the poor folk are doing tonight" & he was SO right!?! mc

Back to my boys

So, I got to spend last weekend in Seattle with all my boys, plus an extra (Kyle's grandpa). It was great to have a normal family weekend, but felt horrible and weird to leave. I did not want to come back, but someone has to support our lavish, nomadic lifestyle. So we went bowling (Cade's new favorite sport), played in the yard, built a Lego Star Wars ty-fighter, and I made my big weekend breakfasts for everyone. AND, just to make up for my 8-days of self-indulgence, I cleaned messes and did their laundry whle I was there. Actually, one dinner was particularly hilarious. We were eating dinner on trays in the family room, because Kyle's grandpa's kitchen table doesn't have seats for everyone, when Grandpa, adjusting his tray, collapsed the whole thing, sending a glass of red wine onto the carpet under Cade's tray (note the sophisticated use of foreshadowing here). After I had been down there scrubbing for about seven minutes--you guessed it-- Cade dumped his entire glass of milk over on me. I don't think Grandpa has had such a good laugh in years. Everyone thought it was hilarious, except Cade, who, a moment before, had been bragging that he did not need a sippie cup like Heath did. He cried when we brought him his new milk in one. Then, that night, I was awakened (as usual) by Heath who (this is not as usual) was standing naked by the side of our bed telling me the long version of how he had to go pee pee in his sleepers. Perhaps he thought there wasn't enough uncontained liquid in the house already. So Heath got to sleep with mom and dad, one of his favorite hobbies which could cause some real problems when he gets to college. Long story short, I can't wait to get spilled on and bruised (Heath's a kicker)in Portland. And I am SO excited to see all you Oregonians too!

We're back

We're tired, but here. A very crazy late-night LAX (end of holiday weekend) made for a late night (hour wait for luggage, traffic) so we had to drag ourselves out of bed this morning, but we're back.

We really liked Vancouver and had a great weekend. Sights were great, hotel was beyond fabulous, food was great, and everyone had fun.

It's a pretty small little peninsula covered with high-rises (a la Manhattan) but it's very clean, overwhelmingly more residential buildings than commercial, and despite the high density (4.4 people/sq. ft. in some areas!) is very clean and well-kept, with distinctive neighborhoods (Yaletown, Gastown, Chinatown, etc.) and generally friendly people (except the Indian taxi drivers which are hit or miss).

We got there at lunchtime on Fri and settled in to the hotel. Nice. We were booked into a 3-bedroom suite so we could all be together, but were still surprised at the size and quality of the suite. Each bedroom was spacious (ours had 2 roll-aways for the boys, plus our king bed and there was still plenty of room for all the other furniture and walking around room), with three full length windows looking out on downtown and a private bath, and a large living room with fireplace, formal dining room and kitchen. There was also a lovely luxury lounge for our area of the hotel with a full breakfast buffet every morning and also tea/coffee/sodas and appetizers from 4-11pm every day. Most of the construction in Vancouver looks newer--glass and metal-- but we were in the old-guard Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, a stone chateau-style building with a copper roof. The best part was the truly world-class customer service from start to finish. They recommended restaurants for every meal, made and adjusted reservations (they were all fabulous), and were always happy to help in any way. It was sooo nice to just not worry about anything all weekend.

The first thing we asked for was a driving tour of the city so we could get an overview of the different areas and sights, get oriented and get the inside local scoop. Even with just a hired van, every detail was great. The van was a beautiful black, practically limo-quality van, stocked with bottled water, a driver in a suit who opened doors and helped everyone in and out and told the local stories every step of the way. I don't mean to gush, but we were all blown away by the truly wonderful service everywhere we went and with everything we did (taxi drivers excepted). Vancouver gets an A+ .

Fri night we had dinner at a lovely restaurant overlooking English Bay, and Mark, Jakie and I took a stroll on the beach after dinner to hear the 9 o'clock gun (a cannon fires every night at 9 to signal the closing of the harbor).

Saturday we walked down to the harbor, and took a little ferry across to Granville Island, where we had the best fish and chips and possibly the best burgers we've ever had. We enjoyed walking around before taking the ferry back. Dinner was a Japanese restarant, where each table is a little private room with screens, you have to take your shoes off, sit on pillows and the waitresses (Japanese, of course) wear kimonos. We all made fun of Jan for how long it took her to get in and out of the table. :-)

Sunday, Mark, Jordan, Brad and Nika took the Snowbus up to Whistler for a full day of snowboarding/skiing. The snow was fantastic and the number of runs was so overwhelming, it was almost scary. You can take chair lifts up something like 5000 ft (from the village to the top of mountain). It was VERY cold (-10) and windy, but the views were incredible. Jakie and I had a Mommy/Jakie day while they were gone. I took him back to Granville Island via taxi and aquabus (Jakie loves transportation!) and we had lunch, played on the playground, took in the Model Trains and Ships Museum and the Kids Market before heading back to the hotel to wait for the others to return.

We celebrated our anniversary that night at Gotham, a steakhouse/cocktail lounge that was fantastic. Dim lighting, black oak, deep red and gold fabric. We had a private dining room upstairs that overlooked the lower level. Again, incredible customer service. Probably the best we've ever had in any restaurant. Everything was with a smile and "of course" and "is there anything else" and combined with the great food, it was a meal to remember. Mark and I had gotten there before the others since they were lagging and we wanted to arrive on time and get water and bread going for the table. When we sat down in our lovely little room, they were playing "Come Rain or Come Shine" which was the song we danced to as our "first dance" at our reception. :-)

Monday was pampering and packing day. Nika and I got facials at the hotel spa. Again, incredible customer service. Nika said it put the facials she'd had at a Napa spa to shame. Then Mark and Brad had sports massages (they needed it after skiing) and enjoyed the steam shower. After we checked out, the hotel held our luggage for us while we walked for a final downtown lunch. After getting back to the hotel, we told them we needed transportation for 6 people (Mark & Jan stayed behind to drive to Seattle) and a zillion bags to the airport. They said the cheapest option for us would be a strech limo, so viola!, they made a phone call and a limo materialized at the door where our luggage magically reappeared and we all loaded in. Did I mention Vancouver has GREAT customer service?

It was a great weekend. It's a good thing we like home so much. :-)

FYI, my Mom and Dad won't be back until Wed. So we won't hear from them for a couple days.

I'll post some pics tonight.

"Freakin" ?

Hey All ~
This Gramma is aghast tonight at learning in "The Oregonian" about a highly sexualized teenage "dance" style called "freak dancing" (or "freakin") that has resulted in the principals of a # of HS's, including Beaverton High, shutting dances down and/or canceling upcoming ones in an attempt to cut it off.. It made me sick at heart/stomach to read about it and OH THAT MUCH MORE prayerful for our Grands as they face their futures in a Godless world! In the article it said that some (wise) educators are saying that the problem is that todays kids don't know how to (really) dance and to combat the problem, some of the schools are beginning to offer dance classes, including "Salsa", etc. (Might be something to "lobby" for in your own local school districts!)

Can anyone tell me how widespread this is? I remember when you were a teen, Darcy, and Jodi S. mentioned that that her parents wouldn't let her go to Portland (to the teen dances there) & my wondering then what that meant/why?

Clue me in, please!
mc

PS Last night Darc asked if my "bubble" had been "burst", but I honestly have to say "no" - EXPLODED is more like it! :-(

Yoo Hoo.... where aaaaare you?

Heidi's in Vancouver, so she gets a pass. Where's Windy? Drinking margaritas and eating foccacia? And is Kyle offline in Seattle? No internet in the Microsoft Headquarters of the World?

Shore is empty around here.

sickies

Well, gee... looks like the flu won't pass us by after all. George came home tonight looking bleary-eyed and said he wasn't feeling so good. He pretty much climbed into pajamas and onto the couch. A half hour later Sarah came in from playing outside with bloodshot eyes and holding her stomach. She doesn't feel so good, either, and climbed into bed by 6:45. *sigh*

Check out the Corillian link

OK everyone, the rain has been coming down fairly hard all day and I need to make this short so I can build a boat! But first, PLEASE click on the Corillian link for some exciting news. On the home page where it says "Newsroom"......well, you will see it. MB

Have a nice weekend!

I hope that everyone has a least a little sunshine and a little fun this weekend. We are leaving in the early am for a long weekend trip to Vancouver. It's supposed to be cold and rainy, but we hope to have a great time anyway. No particular reason, just sightseeing and being tourists. Since Jan has given up trying to get us all to Europe, she's decided to just try for one long weekend trip per year together, which actually works pretty well for us. So, this year is Vancouver. The only weird timing thing is that it's also our anniversary weekend, so Happy Anniversary to us!

Last night we had dinner with Mark's parents and a good friend and her son who've been staying with M&J while their new home is built. Jordan took Alli out for a quick dinner. So Mark and Jakie and I got to the restaurant first (big surprise) and as we're waiting, another couple says to me "I see you brought your little one. We left our kids at home." I laughed and said "I didn't just bring the kids, I also brought the inlaws and the neighbors!" No romance for us . ;-) Back at the house we're all still recovering from this horrible cold/flu thing so when I tried to throw Mark down for a romantic kiss, he just about coughed up a lung on me. Romantic. lol. Oh well. :)

When in a lull...pug pictures

Back from the beach

I'm back and I bet you didn't even miss me. George had a meeting down in Florence today and we made an overnight out of it... stayed at a little motel-type place on the beach in their "luxury suite". Haha! I laughed as I typed that. Let's just say you get what you pay for. It's always a crapshoot at the beach.

Anyway, George was in the doghouse as we were packing to leave Saturday. He had told me he had a meeting from 2-4 and I could shop or whatever during that time. I was busy packing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt when he asked me if thought the sweatshirt would work for the meeting. Excuse me? said I. What meeting am I going to? Turns out his original version was only part 1. It was really a Town Hall- type forum advertised up and down entire coast being held in a civic center. It was from 1-5 p.m., not 2-4, and he was one of two major presenters, not just an invitee as previously thought. He was thinking I'd like to go along as I rarely get the chance to watch him in action. Well, I DID in theory want to watch him, but I was exceedingly annoyed at finding this out while placing my sweatshirt into the overnight bag. So anyway...we showed up for the meeting today and found 200 seats set up in this auditorium. The woman who greeted us was nearly gleeful that George and the governor's legislative coordinator had agreed to come... told them she had really pulled off a coup to get them. I wanted to say, Lady, this is no coup. This is a guy who can't even remember his own address. I didn't think that would fly, however, so I bit my tongue and shook her hand politely.

Turns out the state police had to be at this meeting because they were expecting a crazy guy to show up and wreak havoc. Seems they have some guy down there who's Highly Upset with state government due to a $60 fine he incurred from an agency. George says the person who got him into this owes him Big. Thankfully, no Highly Upset individual showed up.

The meeting proceeded with only a few oddities. George encouraged people to stop him with questions so of course there were some oddly placed questions in the mix. For instance, he's talking about the budget and someone raises their hand to ask whether it's true that the national FEMA director is actually an employee of the state of Oregon. What are you going to do to save the salmon fishermen, stop the war in Iraq, etc.

Anyway, I'm home!

Winter Formal

Tonight was Winter Formal. Jordan and Alli decided against going with a big group and instead just went with Alli's best friend Shauna and her boyfriend. Jordan and Matt love each other too so it works out well. Matt goes to Jordan's college and is another "vibrant personality." :) Shauna is the one who started the "A Million Thanks" campaign that ballooned into such a huge thing (2 country music videos, partnership with NASCAR, White House invitation, book, and just last week, a ceremony at the Pentagon presenting LHS with a medal from the Defense Department, for being the headquarters of the Million Thanks campaign- if you're curious, you can check it out at www.amillionthanks.org and www.lhsoc.org/224867.ihtml . They'll go to Shauna's house for fondue and swimming after the dance.

After multiple distasters, Alli's mom was exhausted. Alli's first hairstyle was a disaster. Apparently she asked for "a little volume" and the stylist thought that meant "aircraft hanger of hair." Even her dad said it looked awful. So they had to scrounge up an emergency appointment somewhere else to undo the damage and re-do something more along the lines of, well, normal. She also went out on a limb and had her makeup "done." She usually wears very little. Well, the makeup artist mixed up the idea of "smokey eye" with "raccoon eyes" and so that was followed by a good face scrubbing and starting over at home. Then, they had gotten her dress sewed up in the neckline for the sake of modesty and to be frank, ability to wear a supportive undergarment. Well, once she put it on it was clear they had only sewed half of what they asked for and said undergarment was still exposed. By the time she came downstairs with normal hair and makeup and no underwear showing, her mother needed a drink!

I took your advice Kyle, and let Jordan bust out a little in the tux department. None of the really outlandish stuff worked. It was cheaply made, costumey or oversized. Jordan likes to stand out, but he also wants to look good. So I picked this white pinstriped version with 2-toned shoes that Jordan liked as well. He felt sufficiently individual, yet dapper. After we got there, Matt complained that he had also wanted to wear pinstripes (black) but Shauna had vetoed it! Alli's mom confessed to me that both she and Alli had been "a little concerned" about Jordan's tux, but said that it looked good after all.

Enjoy the pics!

living single

so here's a report on my first week without my boys. I knew the weekdays would be ok, since I had a poetry reading tuesday night and was taking a group of students to see King Lear Thursday night. And we all had a nice rowdy pre-theater dinner in the student apartments. The English majors are used to me in social situations, but whenever my Gen Ed students run into me in the dorms or apartments they freak out, and try to pretend they didn't see me. It's quite amusing. Then Friday I had to run errands all day, and I have never been so grateful for such ridiculous things as emissions tests and kitty litter. At the grocery store, I followed Heidi's advice to make the most of my loneliness and I had jalapeno/artichoke dip, rosemary foccaccia, red peppers, and wine for dinner. Today was looking pretty long and empty, so I made some strawberry shortcake for breakfast. And now a friend from church called whom I've always wanted to get to know better, and we are going to a matinee. I am going to suggest margaritas afterward. So please know that I am surviving--so far.

pretty amazing stuff

Take a look at this article... it's pretty amazing.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1188041.html

Trading namesakes...

On a lighter note...our good friend Stefan has announced that he and Janet are having a boy...due on July 4th...middle name will be Mark. Jacob is named after Stefan (it's his middle name). So he's returning the favor!

Oh boy...

I couldn't figure out where Mark was since he'd come home from work. Usually, he's out with us giving his opinion on what dinner should be. So I went looking and found him curled up in bed. Says he "doesn't feel good." Oh dear...HELP!!

You guys made me smile

Seriously, even the story about Jacob's poopy problem made me feel happier than I had all day. My boys left today for their great excursion to the PAC NW, and I've been feeling very mopey. It is bad enough not having parents, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins here in Colorado, but to lose my own boys is bringing me down. Now I want to have a REAL Super Bowl Party, Jakie style, and I have no one to have it with. WAH!!!

I am Not Sure What the Title Should Be...

"You Gotta Love the Internet!"
"It was 63 Degrees Today!"
or
"I Fixed the Mirror."

I woke up early today, drove to the dealership to buy the mirror, after two good autoparts places said that it was a "dealer only" item.
I got pulled over in the parking lot of the Subaru dealer for expired registration (just hasn't been a priority since we returned from LT, and it expired about two days before we got back to the states).
Talked myself out of that ticket, but Windy really IS going to take care of it on Friday!
Bought the mirror-looked complicated-wires dangling all over the place. Which I am sure explains its $200 price tag.
Got home, removed the old mirror, and clipped the wires of the old one, because I couldn't figure out how to remove the inside door panel (no I am not kidding, the door panel had to be removed completely in order to plug in the wires).
Went on the internet, and I post my query here, verbatim "subaru outback how to remove door panel."
On the first page was a step, by step, with pictures, explanation on how to remove my door panel! It was posted by some car stereo/subaru dork.
I had only missed one secret screw underneath the power lock device, but it was enough to not let me pull the panel off.
The new mirror looked so out of place on the snow beaten car that I had to get the whole thing washed.
Then I got my teeth cleaned, and two new fillings that my dentist said could wait until I got back from LT.
Fun day.

Infirmary

Oh boy.

Both boys home from school. Jordan has a bad flu: fever between 101 and 102 and as miserable as I ever seen him - which is saying a lot ;-). The high fever has him feeling just awful. Alli's sister has the same thing. Her fever was even higher and it's lasted a few days. So I don't think the end is in sight yet.

Jacob has a bad ear infection - again. And since he has such a high pain threshold (unlike his brother) he doesn't complain until it's already pretty bad. And he's also coughing and sniffing pretty severly. But his Jakie spirits are undaunted. He managed to poop in his pants and vomit on the floor of his room within about 30 seconds and just came happily marching out in new pajama pants to announce them both to us.

Fun, fun, fun.

Neither Mark nor I can afford to get sick now, but both these boys are SICK. Pray for us.

Poor Jakie

Jacob's been so excited the last couple days about going to THE SUPER BOWL PARTY. Today, he insisted we hang the American flag in front of our house, and the USC banner on the front door. As we got closer to leaving he asked "Where is the party??!! Where are we going??!!"

Mark said "Nanny and Grandad's house."

Jake looked confused and said, "Daddy, what is a Super Bowl party?"

Mark explained that we watch a football game with friends and eat food.

Jake's response: "That is NOT WHAT A SUPER BOWL PARTY IS!!!!"

Okay. So we had to ask him what he thought a Super Bowl party was. And he told us..

At a very big bowling alley, with lots of friends, and pizza. No wonder he'd been so excited.

Poor Jakie.

We were going to Mark & Jan's to officially inaugurate their new 60-inch plasma TV. But 4 of us tech savvy adults could not get a picture to show after 45 minutes of wrangling with 4 different remotes. So we watched the game sitting on the couch in Mark Sr's downstairs office, where he has a little 19-inch set on the top shelf of a closet. Oh well, it was fun anyway- even without a bowling alley or a big screen.

Oh Deer

Just driving along on my way home from a SuperBowl party, and I see these warning signs. They posted them two days after Windy's incident. Windy was hit by her deer about 200 yards up the hill from this sign. Apparently, the deer are unable to find food in the usual places due to the unprecedented amount of snow we have been having (45+ days of measurable snow on the ground), so they have been coming out of the hills into the actual city of Denver. We are the first thing as you come out of the mountains, so we are seeing the most deer. Soooo many cars hit deer on Alameda, that the city posted these signs.
After I parked, and took the picture, I walked back to the truck to see these guys just hanging out by my truck. Some got up, and casually left, but most just continued to eat and relax. There were about 12 of them there. As I left the parking lot, and headed up Alameda, I spotted another 20 coming down the hill, in single file, ready to cross the street. Notice how close the are to a four lane road, just sitting...
I am getting the mirror fixed in the morning.

Grandkid sports!

Last Sat. & then this, we had the fun of seeing first Monique's (2nd-3rd gr. girls), then Caleb's (5th-6th gr. boys) basketball games! The progress of EACH is amazing to me!
The 1st time I saw then 1st grader Monique in a practice, she was so timid that periodically her sensitive coach would CLEAR the court to allow her to shyly slowly dribble the BB down the court, unhassled! It was SO cute & sweet to observe from the sidelines that you'd catch quiet "ahhh's" of appreciation "escaping" the lips of other parents. :-) To see her NOW, however, actively playing in the game is really great fun! There she is! - On the left in a royal blue T shirt! (I LOVE this pregame "ritual" where the team lines up 1st face to face to SEE whom they're supposed to guard, then one team at a time turns around so the girl can see their number, too!:-) I only got to stay for the 1st quarter - on my way to work, sigh, but Grampa Mikey who got to take her to the game (Nath had to work at home & Teresa was with Kelsey at a GS "camp") saw her catch a rebound and dribble it full court!
G-O-O-O Monique!!
Caleb is a "David" up against the opposing teams REAL "Goliath" here, and he did well!! (His team won handily again!) Darcy didn't tell any of the Grands that we were coming as it makes Caleb nervous, so we sort of "sneaked in" :-)! George was scorekeeper, so he, Darc, Mike & I sat a couple of rows up, though directly behind the team. It was SOO hard to not "whoop & cheer" as I have a BIT of a "tendency" to do ;-), but I didn't want to throw Caleb off! I had to stiffle my Grandmotherly grins too in that he "worked" SO HARD to not make eye contact once he realized we were there, but as soon as the game ended and he returned to the bench, he smiled looking right at us & said "hi!" :-).
The last pic is self explanatory - game is over, George is "tabulating", Caleb is exhausted & ME, well, I am EXcited! :-)
We got to stop by to see A,J & S for a few min. following, before we had to leave to get me to work - ALWAYS a joy!
NEXT time, we'll BOTH get to see all of Monique's game! YIPPEE!
mc

I hate new blogger

Half the time I click "comment" or "sign in", I just sit and wait while it does nothing. So I give up and go away. It's like having dial-up again. We have cable internet and every other site works perfectly fine so I know it's not our internet. It's their server and it stinks.