POT LUCK OF SORTS

Hard to believe it has been over 2 months since my last post.

Have you ever had so much time on your hands that you decide to do something that you have been putting off for good reasons? Well, let me just say, this is the reason I have avoided the whole blog thing... I am OVERWHELMED!! I decided to clean the basement and the garage out before starting a job.

Now... Road trip anyone? I could sure use the help. I have junk all over the house and now I am not sure where to go next.

The job search is going well. I'm pretty sure I will be accepting a job offer by next week. The best choice is the one where I would be "squeaked" in on the day-shift. How awesome is that; to get a job as a brand new nurse on days?

I just found out that the funding for my license should be available to me within the month. Hopefully, I will be able to take the boards by Thanksgiving.

Madeline is doing great is school this year. She brought her homework home last night and showed me her papers on the President. If she were the President, there would be NO WARS!
She still does PT and OT two times a week.

I took her in last week for her physical and my suspicions were confirmed about how much she has grown. She started school last year in the 25th % for her age; wearing a size 5-6 and a 12 shoe. Now, she is in the 50th % and wears an 8 with a size 1 shoe. No wonder I keep washing clean clothes. She tries to wear clothes that don't fit her. Instead of putting them away or telling me, she takes them off and they end up back in the laundry. Now that I know this, I am putting them aside so it doesn't keep happening.

Last week, we had one of the scariest storms I have ever been in and it went on the entire night. The wind was relentless. It was so bad I thought our roof was just going to lift right off and fly away. Around 11pm Madeline asked me if I had a sleeping bag. Since she has one too, we should get them out and sleep in the basement. Madeline has never even been in the basement because it is unfinished and she is scared of it. We ended up going downstairs to sleep on the couch bed and it was still pretty loud.

We tried to sleep... about 1 AM I called Karoline (her husband was working nights). Since she was awake (imaging that) I told her I was putting Madeline and Cooper in the car and if we were not there in less then 20 minutes... send out the troops looking. I look back and realize that was probably not the best idea, the winds were 55mph+. But, misery loves company. We were all scared together. On the way home the next morning, I noticed two of my neighbors will be getting new cars. Huge trees fell over the night and their cars were crushed.

Back to cleaning... I have got to get this house under control!

MY SIX

My sister Rachael posted today about a six word challenge: summerizing her life using only six words. After comming up with her six word summary, she then challenged other people who read her blog to come up with their own.

Here is Rachael's: "LIFE IMITATES ART: MINE IS FINGER-PAINTED"
(her blog can be found on my side line) Be sure to check it out as not to miss the meaning behind it.

When I read Rach's blog this morning I instantly thought of my life's motto. Longer then six words though. So, my life: Summerized in SIX.

"TAKING THE LONG ROUTE: NOT LOST!"

In more ways then one! I wrote one of my first posts on the original saying: "I don't get lost... I'm just taking the long route".

I often get grief from family and friends about the fact that I am directionally challenged. However, I'm not always sold on the label cause I usually always recognize something or have a general idea of where I am. It may take longer then usual, but I usually get there.

Now, go get your own SIX!

When I grow up...I think I will be Republican.

Democrat? Republican? Who knows? All I know right now is that all the important men in my life for the past 18 years are definately Republican; which made me think that I was too. Well, recently, a very good friend and I were talking about politics and I said I was Republican. Of course, because I wouldn't vote for Hillary or Obama in fear of being rejected by all the important men in my life (plus, the fact that I don't like what they are campaigning). So, I was shocked to hear Alysia tell me that I tended to live more of a Democratic lifestyle. Hu? Well, I do kinda like equality here, ya know. Does that make me a Democrat then? I think I need to be a grown-up before I vote. Honestly, I think I at least want to be Republican.

Yesterday, Madeline and I got to meet Senator Hillary R Clinton in town. She was a couple miles from the house at a local produce market. Evidently, a couple weeks ago, a local orchard crop was destroyed by a hail storm. I had no idea, even though I was home the day it supposedly happened. It didn't hail at my house.

Regardless of the fact that I wouldn't vote for her, I still thought it would be neat to see Hillary in person. Kudos to her for attempting a run in the Presidency. Too bad she has screwed up education so bad and was planning to mess up the health care system as well. Otherwise, I probably would have voted for her. I think it would be awesome to see a woman president.

Madeline was too cute about being there. She thought it was pretty cool that she might end up on the local news (we were front row, waiting on her to arrive). Oh, and Lori... I did some advertising for your family farm while we were there. I was wearing my C******* produce shirt because it was what I wore when we picked strawberries earlier in the morning. (The whole reason she was in town was because of farm issues). Not very many other people were dressed up so it wasn't like I stood out looking like a bum. I didn't even know about the visit until about an hour before.

For the record, since I'm not sure what party I belong to yet, I wont be voting out of loyalty. But just incase you're wondering... I'm not impressed by either.

TAGGED

I've been tagged by a couple of family members to share six quirky things about me. Hmm...

1) I'm a "patt patter". Ever since I can remember, I have always loved to pat the arm of, someone; I will do it as long as they will let me. My Grandma Annie has the BEST arm in the world. I am also known to pat with my foot on people's legs too. Natalie always let me do it but Lori usually put a stop to it right away. Even still, I have to put my hand on an arm or a foot on a leg when I sleep at night. Lucky for me, Andy and Madeline don't mind at all.

2) I am not a morning person. Even when I am on a schedule of waking before 9am, I look forward to sleeping in. All last month I had to be up by 5am and I dreaded it. Fortunately for me, Madeline is a sleeper too. She would naturally wake around 9 or 10am if I would let her. Works well for me when we don't have morning obligations. I think getting her on the bus by 7am is worse then not getting to sleep in though. That is a HUGE daily accomplishment. She is miserable even if she goes to bed at 7:30 the night before.

3) I am a messy house keeper. My floors are almost always swept and mopped and the bathroom is scrubbed once a week, but you wouldn't believe how messy things can get around here. I pile things a lot. Interestingly though, my piles are quite organized. I can tell you how far down in a pile something is, even if I haven't looked at it for a few days. For the record though, Andy likes to have more order then the average person so, for his sake, when I know he will be home for the weekend, I make huge efforts to declutter. When he is home on a more regular schedule, he is really good about helping. Of course, he does have his own room. It just makes since, seeing as he needs space that is just his, with no clutter. I never go in there, so there are no piles. It doesn't bother me one bit.

4) I love old men. They just make me smile. Even the grumpy ones. Very rarely will you catch me missing an opportunity to say Hi to strange old men. They are just so darn cute the way they walk real slow with a walker or all hunched over. I especially love to greet the ones with a scowl, because it is so easy to make them smile. Oh, and what about the ones that are just happy all the time... the ones that play the harmonica or sing with no inhibitions. I just love em.

5) I still use hot rollers in my hair. They are amazingly easy to use and I can get away with an extra day of not washing my hair by using them.

6) I am a hypochondriac... what nursing student isn't though. They other day we were learning about STIs (the new politically correct version of STDs). Anyway, it is a good thing I know that the little annoyances on the bottom of my feet are caused from stress. Otherwise, I would have imagined I was getting a false/positive reaction to syphilis and thought for sure that I had some rare auto immune disease that was silently killing me. Turns out, it's just eczema. Good thing I already knew that one. Ha! (Not quite as gross as it sounds...my feet)!

I would tag other people, but like my mother said... Everyone who reads my blog has already been tagged.

Just got back from visiting my Dad in Oklahoma.



Other then the nice greeting from Barbra, the visit was good. It went by very fast and I wish I had done a lot more then I did. The first day in town I went with my dad to put in some bids for his Rock company. When we were finished there, we stopped by the Preacher's Ranch and I got to meet him and talk to him about Uncle Charlie. Then, we stopped by the Lake house and I was able to see the devastating remains of what was lost in the fire. It was very sad. I think it was a really good day for my dad though because he was able to find closure on Charlie's death.














This is Dad burring Charlie's dog, Baby. We found him in the back of the house on the bed next to the window.

We did find out that the cause of the fire was because of a propane gas leak, between the wall, on the back side of the house. The leak had caused the wall to fill up with the gas and Charlie most likely was standing next to it when the fire ignited. It is believed that he was killed instantly.

A neighbor was outside when she noticed smoke coming from the trailer. She saw both vehicles were there and knew Charlie was home. She ran over and smashed all the windows out of the front of the house hoping to help him escape, but he did not answer her and she didn't dare go in. She said the house was completely destroyed in less then 5 minutes.





Not much left. Is there?


Dad said he is going to take the rock over to his house and build a sidewalk by his pool. I guess he is going to scrap as much metal as possible too. Not sure what is going to happen to the land. Probably nothing for now. It is still in Trust from Grandpa so I'm not sure anyone really knows. I've heard talk about it going to AireAnna. That makes the most since to me.




This is a top view. There is absolutely NOTHING left.
I cleaned out Charlie's truck and found a ton of important documents though. What was he thinking to keep all the property deeds, car titles to both cars, and a few other important documents in the glove box? I found them tucked in the back of his owner's manual. Hmm. Why there?
I also found his extra set of keys... hanging inside the door of his gas tank. It came in very handy to have them because Barbra sure did accidentally pick the originals up and take them to work with her. She called and told dad once she got to work because she didn't want me to drive it. She also said that the insurance company called her when they "heard" what had happened because she was listed as next of kin. Whatever! Evidently they needed to let her know that only her and dad were authorized to drive the vehicle. Have you ever heard of such craziness? She was pretty upset when she saw we had moved the truck (spare keys, remember?) and then I was sure to mention I had called my own insurance company and got permission to drive it. She was pretty upset that she didn't get her way. UGGH! She is so selfish and greedy.

With it being as late as it is, I am going to go ahead and publish this post. I will add more to it or just start another post in the near future. My Easter post should be up in a few days as well.

COOPER

I have been putting off this post since Wednesday because I can't figure out how get my pictures to the desk top from the camera.

We have a new dog in our family! His name is Cooper and until our vet check today, we thought he was some hound mix mutt.

About a month ago I talked to Andy about getting a dog. An older dog, because I'm not so sure I have the energy or desire, for a puppy. I just wanted to have a dog that wanted to be lazy, and love us. For a while there I thought I was going to have to check the weekly obituaries in hopes of finding a recently orphaned one.

Well, I found Cooper, formerly called Buddy but officially named Andy. Funny, isn't it? I didn't know the shelter had named him Andy until after I had dicided to consider him. When I called Andy and told him about the perfect dog he seemed sceptical that I could find a perfect one in such a short time. Maybe he thought I was settling, or something? Then I told him I knew it was the one because of his name.

Two weeks later I took Madeline to see this dog. They took to each other really well and Madeline, although reserved, was very excited that we might bring him home.

About another week and Andy called to tell me he thought I should go and get the dog. He wanted us to have him.

We went that day and instead of turning in the paperwork and planning on another visit, the dog somehow ended up in our car and was officially ours. We call him Cooper.

He is such a good boy. I have yet to hear him bark. No messes when I leave him home alone in the house and I even leave the garbage can in the kitchen. I called my mom and told her he was so good I thought maybe he might be sick. He sleeps the whole night on a rug next to Madeline's bed, lets her walk him without a fight and is really sweet.

Okay, so I took him for his first vet check today because I noticed he wasn't feeling good on Saturday. He wouldn't eat, he could barely get up the stairs and he caughed so hard I thought he had asthma.

At the vet, I found out that he has bronchitis. I also found out that he is a pure bread American walker foxhound. Who knew? I thought he was a beagle mix. Kinda weird to see a 64lb beagle. Hey, anything can happen whith dogs these days. He sure has the face and markings of one though.

So, now I have a dog that can run for hours without tiring. (Running buddy?) The internet said they were originally bred for running with horses while hunting.

Cooper definately belonged to someone who spent time working with him. He is about 5 years old. He must have wondered off on a scent during hunting season and his owner couldn't find him. Lucky us!

I hope to have pictures up soon. If you can't wait, just google "foxhound" and they should have a good picture there. Cooper is tricolored.

Is spell check working these days? It said I spelt everything correctly the first time through. hmmh.

This is for you, Uncle Charlie

I missed you before I got the call. When dad called me on Tuesday night and blurted the news that you were gone all I could think of was how thankful I was for the past few months between us. We had such a good time just talking about "stuff". Sometimes we would talk for so long that I wanted to keep it a secret from dad because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I just had so much fun. Even through my tears as I write, I am able to spontaneously laugh about how hard we laughed a few weeks ago about *******. Silly, I know, but it was so incredibly funny.

Contrary to what some may have thought of you, I think you were an incredible man. I wish everyone knew the side of you that I did. You had incredible strength inside of you, both physically and mentally. Hey, not everyone gets to brag about the fact that their blood has the strength of an Olympic swimmer or the intelligence to speak 3 languages fluently. Didn't you swim next to Mark Spitz in the 70's? Actually, I know you did. What a privilege it must have been. Your knowledge of history is somehow more impressive then the BS you have in physics, but your ability to read others was a talent greater then your strength and knowledge combined.

You are my blood. You understood me. I was just telling you the other night how hard it is for me to no not self sabotage my efforts when I get so close to finishing something. I was being so hard on myself and you put me back into reality. You told me how important it is to not let my intelligence scare me. (Intelligence? what?). You actually know I know better. I am smart and I will finish school. It was encouraging to hear that I'm not alone on being scared of myself though. Oh how I wish you had understood yourself more before you got into so much trouble.

You always got me because we are so much alike. Rebels by nature and obsequious almost to a fault. You said you mother was that way too. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all. It is amazing how we are so much alike yet we are so incredibly different. You said it was because of how amazing my mother is and how she did so right by us. I couldn't agree more!

Remember telling me about how much fun it was when all of us would stay with you. You had to promise to have us dressed and at church on time but it wasn't too hard. You had Rachael there to help you. You were always impressed with how much of a leader she was; down to earth, smart as a whip, and such a good leader. You never doubted she would grow up to be anything other then a doctor. Ryan, such a good brother. He could take all of us girls down at once yet when we would gang up on him he wouldn't even flinch. You knew he was going to grow up to be such a good husband and father. It takes a real man to hold back his own strength. You loved his wife Lisa too. Always praising her for being such a good wife to your nephew. Lori, you always saw as responsible and practical. You said she was a good sister for me to have so close because she keeps me in check. (I definitely agree). No hard feelings at all when you say you always thought of Francie as the prettiest. You remembered her as always having the most adorable face and the happiest spirit. She was always smiling and clueless of anything less then positive. Finally, you mentioned how much you missed of Francie and Natalie because they were the youngest. You just loved how much fun Natalie was. You felt like a kid all over again every time you saw her. You two were so hilarious at the restaurant we went to in the city when we came through to visit. She still thinks of you as being such a FUN uncle.

Because I know that your time was limited with us, I wasn't as initially shocked as I thought I should be. I thought I would have had more of a warning. The first thing I said to my dad when he called was "Dad, at least he didn't die of AIDS". To most people, that may seem odd. If you were here, you would have been proud of me. We all knew you have been living with AIDS for a long time. The worst part of the whole disease is the fact that the people you meant the most to, would have to watch you die. You wouldn't give into the disease though. You had such a zest for life that even a disease as powerful as yours couldn't win. Your doctors were so impressed with you too. As tragic as your death was/is, I am grateful that you didn't have to loose the battle. Even in death, you survived.

I will miss you more then anyone can possibly understand. You have been a window into my heritage and the information that you have shared with me is a treasure.

Less then a week before you died we talked about life and death. You said God must have a good reason for you to still be here with us. It was then that I told you that God is so generous that He gives us the opportunity to decide whether we will accept His gift of eternal life. I said He must be waiting for an answer from you. I truely believe your decision was made before the 4 days later when you were killed. I trust God and know that He respects our decisions. He was waiting for you Uncle Charlie. That's why you were still alive.


*Charlie died on March 3, 2008. He was inside his home with his beloved dog Baby when his house burnt to the ground.