Thoughts and other Things

2012-01-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

So today, I became the grandparent of an even dozen. Well sort of. Okay, get your score card out and try to keep up...My oldest biological grandchild is Anita, she turned 7 in November. Now this grandchild belongs to my oldest child Stephanie. So back in 2005 when I got married, my stepdaughter Jen already had a child, Madisyn who will be 11 (I think) in May. So that makes 2. Then another stepdaughter Amanda had Korbin who is 4 1/2. In 2010, my daughter Sarah brought Jonathan into the family, he'll be two next month. That brings it up to 4. Kinley, another granddaughter was born to Jen and her new husband in September 2011, Then my daughter Stephanie married just 3 days later to a man with 5 kiddos, Alex, Madeline, Sam, Violet and Ruby. If you're keeping count that makes 10. My son, Sam obtained a roommate who has a daughter, Alisabeth, she's two. Well, today my daughter Sarah gave birth to the newest, Elinor or Nora. So today, I became the grandparent of an even dozen. But it's not over yet...in just a couple of weeks, Sam's ex will give birth to a son, in May, Amanda is having twins a boy and a girl and finally Sam's roommate is having a boy in early June, I think. That will make 16 grand babies in my life. I'm not sure it can get any better than that...so does your score card look something like this?

Jen -

Madisyn - 10 yrs
Kinley - 4 mths

Stephanie

Alex -14 yrs
Madeline - 13 yrs
Sam - 9 yrs
Anita - 7 yrs
Violet - 7 yrs
Ruby - 5 yrs

Sarah

Jonathan - 23 mths
Elinor - 1 day

Amanda

Korbin
Baby Girl
Baby Boy

Sam

Alisabeth
Pete
Austin

Lounge Pants

2011-12-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, I thought that lounge pants were for lounging, at the end of the day, when you had no plans for going anywhere else. Boy was I wrong. Lounge pants are the usure quotidienne for anyone going to Walmart, Target, or to pay the cell phone bill.

Gone are the days of wearing your sweat pants for these little trips, that's crass now. Instead you must dress in lounge pants and flip flops. Don't forget, your lounge pants must have some sort of idiotic animal or saying on them. Checkers, plaid or plain are not permitted.

I'm not suggesting that in order to make a run to the store you should put on a dress or suit and fix your hair and put on make up, nothing like that. However, the last time I looked, underwear and pajamas were for the bedroom and intimate relations, not for the whole world to gaze upon.

Even to this day, I see young women (and some not so young) who forget to put their shirt on over their camisole or bra.

All I ask myself each and every time I see this is "Did their parents neglect to teach these people how to dress?"

What I really find amazing is when these people who don't know how to put their clothes on properly or wear proper clothes get upset when they have a legitimate complaint, but get treated like crap. Who can take anyone seriously when they are wearing penguin covered lounge pants?

Bussing it in Spokane

2010-08-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

So a couple of months ago, I decided to fore-go the car and use the transit system here in Spokane. So far it's been fun. I walk about a mile and a half each day, by choice, I could ride the bus all the way to work, but the exercise is good for me.

I get to meet the most interesting people, such as,

About two weeks ago, the homeless vet (Vietnam) who lives in the bushes not far from where I work. I met him at Burger King, I was getting breakfast, he was getting water. We waited for the bus together and I learned a great deal about him. He moved to Spokane in 1986 from Seattle, so his daughters could have a better life. After his daughters graduated from Shadle Park High School, his drinking got the better of him and he lost his job, home and family connections. That was about 8 years ago. Now he lives where he wants to, as long as no one chases him off. He has a beer every couple of days with his buddies and enjoys life to it's fullest. He would live in a car, but he's had so many DUIs that even sitting in a car would get him thrown in jail. Oh, and he just had his 60th birthday on July 22. Our paths have crossed many times since our first encounter. If I don't see him first, he sees me and we wish each other a wonderful day. He told me last week that he felt sorry for me because I had to work to support myself. He thinks I should join the marines and then retire and get what he gets. Medical, retirement benefits, yada, yada, yada. I told him I would take it under consideration.

Then there was the woman on the bus from the Valley to SCC. All outward appearances did not indicate a mental problem. She was well dressed and groomed. Her visage was clear and bright. But the minute the bus began moving she carried on a tirade about dogs with worms until the bus quit moving. She was only quiet during the 15 minute ride when the bus stopped to pick up passengers or red lights. It was really quite interesting to listen to, and I'm sure her information was pretty accurate, just not quite sure who she was talking to.

About mid July, I took my grandson K (not quite 3) on a trip with me. We rode the #91 downtown, caught the shuttle (#1) to the Scout office, then took the #27 city loop around to where we caught the the #31 home. On each bus, K talked and talked and talked. Each bus driver said "Bye Chatterbox" as we exited the bus. On one of the buses, K asked if the white man was going to get on the bus (there was in fact a white man putting is bike on the rack) I told him he was and wondered what prompted K to comment on the man's coloring. Then after a bit, K turned to me and asked me if the green man was going to get off the bus. That's when the green man and I both came to the realization that K was talking about shirt colors and not skin color. We both looked at each other, smiled and nodded. We got it and realized that we were both being too sensitive to racial comments.

Yesterday was a doozey though, as the bus was preparing to leave the plaza downtown, a woman hit the rear door with her hand and then banged on the side of the bus all the way to the front door. The driver opened the door for her and tried, kindly I might add, to get her to hurry up as our bus was holding up all the other buses trying to leave the plaza. As soon as the woman paid and began to move to a seat, the bus pulled out and OMG!!! The woman went ballistic. She started shouting at the driver that it was a federal law that buses don't move with passengers standing (like to see that on the E. Sprague or N Division buses). That the driver was a inconsiderate a** for not waiting for a handicapped person to take their seat before moving the bus (no evidence of a physical problem). That everyone on the bus was part of a government conspiracy to injure her before she could get home. This statement of course set off another passenger who was adamant that he was definitely not part of a government conspiracy, only because the government was out to get him. So these two went at it for about 8 blocks, which is where she needed to get off because now she was sure we were all out to get her. Now, none of this was really funny or amusing, but rather scary in that it made me wonder, who takes care of this woman? Who sees to her needs?

Anyway, I've been exposed to a great deal. I hear all kinds of conversations that are best spoken in private, such as the man today who was telling a co-worker his woes with his girl friend and their child. Why he had to get a DNA test now that the baby is 3 months old. Of course most of what he was saying was out the side of his mouth, just trying to look intelligent, like he knew what he was talking about. He didn't and anyone who is familiar with family court, child support and DNA testing would know it, but his co-worker did not and believed everything he said.

People tend to forget that a cell phone is not private. Your half of the call is heard by those around you. Libraries, grocery stores and buses do not afford you privacy. If you must talk about your relationship with your BFF, save it for a time when you are truly alone, like at home or in a park away from people. I really don't care that he said he was going to leave your sorry butt if you don't clean up your act. I happen to think he's right.

Or the one where he called his doctor's office while on the bus because he thought he had something contagious and didn't want to spread it around at home. DUH, you're on a public bus, don't spread it around there. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer.

I was waiting for a bus at the plaza and this dark-haired little girl, about 3 or 4 years old, walks by with a wrapped sandwich in her hand. She offers it to me, I think as little kids do, I smile at her and tell her no thank you. She then wanders off after her mom and dad.
Then a man and his young daughter came up to wait. The child was in a stroller, this struck me as odd because she was about 5 yrs old. The other thing that struck me was that she was terribly obese. Not chubby, not plump, but downright fat. But in her and her parents defense, obviously low income and therefore the food budget would not allow for low fat, healthy foods like fruits and veggies, lean meats, yogurt, etc. Instead, it would allow for mac & cheese, hot dogs, oriental noodles, cereal, fast and easy foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Anyway, the little girl was crying because she was hungry. Her dad told her they were on the way home to eat. The little girl cried hard and said she didn't want cereal for dinner again. I felt bad, I've been there, and I felt bad for the dad.
The dad was then greeted by a passerby who knew him. This friend asked the dad how his AIDs test had come out. The dad broke eye contact with his friend, glanced at the little girl and then shook his head. It wasn't good. I could tell that from his body language, but the friend didn't get it. The dad took a couple of steps away from the stroller and signaled his friend to join him. He leaned in, whispered and both teared up. His friend shook his hand, told him he was sorry to hear the news and then he moved on. Before you think it, there was no indication that this father of the obese little girl was a homosexual, nor was there any visible signs of drug use. After the friend left, the man gazed again at his little girl and the tears spilled, his and mine, though I don't think he knew I cried for him.
This all happened in a matter of minutes, then here comes that dark-haired little girl again with her parents, this time she offers me a peach. Again I politely decline the offer and she moves to the little girl in the stroller. The peach is offered again and the little girl grabs it and starts to devour it like she hasn't eaten in days. Then the father of the dark-haired girl, reaches into his grocery sack and pulls out a sandwich and offers it to the father of the girl in the stroller. He blushed, looked longingly at the sandwich for a moment and then accepted it. Another sandwich was produced from the grocery sack and given to the little girl in the stroller.
I realized instantly that this family was there to bring food to those who needed it. The dark-haired little girl, I'm sure, was told that they were going to give food to people. The girl was eager to help. She offered food to everyone she came across. It was wonderful to see these parents teaching their daughter how to serve others. It reminded me that I need to be just as eager to serve.

Well, I've shared as much as I can this time around, but I plan (yeah right?) to write often about my adventures on the Spokane Transit Authority.

Garden Time Lapse...sorta

2009-07-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

June 11
June 23
July 3
July 23

Washing Papa's Car

2009-07-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

Teaching Korbin early how to take care of Papa's car

K is a great helper, but of course afterwards we found pleanty of spots that he missed. :)

Dinner at Nana's & Papa's

2009-06-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

One of the great pleasures and blessings in my life are my grand children and great niece and nephews. I don't see some of them as often as I would like, but everyone has such busy lives, it is just not always possible.

Korbin, Nick and Blake eat Nana's fettucini with homemade sghetti sauce.

Wood Badge Weekend 2

2009-06-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

The weekend started out with a few presentations, but the highlight of Day 4 was the fabulous feast prepared in dutch ovens by the staff for the participants.

No one went hungry, that's for sure!

Everyone participated in "Problem Solving" games.

Each patrol gave a presentation that illustrated all levels of Scouting.

The Scribes and Quartermaster took a few moments to relax during the patrol presentations.

Day 6 was emotional and informative. Leaving a Legacy is always a tear jerker.

Being on staff this year was an honor and a privilege. Seeing Jeff come through as a participant and then listening to him ever since has made my heart swell. I remember the fire light when I went through myself in 2003. Being a troop guide last year was wonderful, as I got to recatch the fire in working with the 5 people in the Fox patrol, but being in the same house as someone who was just ignited with the Scout spirit has done nothing but fan the flames for me.

Randy Sorenson will be next year's course director. The date is set for Sept 9-11 and 23-25. Anyone interested in attending WE1-611-10 should check out the facebook group Wood Badge WE1-611-10 Inland Northwest Council or just contact me and I will get the information for you.

WE1-611-09 Day 4

WE1-611-09 Day 5

WE1-611-09 Day 6

Almost a Garden time lapse

2009-06-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

The plants are getting big (except for the carrots)

Look How My Garden grows

2009-06-11T11:51:00.003-07:00

Only three weeks ago did I put the little seeds in the ground and prayed real hard.

Can you see the little plants all over the ground?

Wood Badge Weekend 1

2009-06-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of WE1-611-09

The Scoutmaster and crew await the arrival of the new Wood Badgers.

Jeff works on his "Commando" rope.

Jeff looks good with his new uniform pieces.

Carolyn, Cindy, John, Ben-John and I sing to the new Webelos Scouts as they enter the lodge for the Blue & Gold Banquet.
More pictures can be seen at

WE1-611-09 Day minus 2

WE1-611-09 Day minus 1

WE1-611-09 Day 1

WE1-611-09 Day 2

WE1-611-09 Day 3

INWC Cub Adventure Family Camp

2009-06-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Learning Songs and Skits

Making Simple Aid Kits and Folding Flags

We had such a great time at the INWC Cub Adventure weekend

INWC Cub Adventure

2009-05-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Lord wanted beauty in the world
The Lord wanted simple reminders of all that he has created.

The Lord gave us roses.

Our Beautiful Home

2009-05-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful home. I truely enjoy this house, mostly because the people who live here make this a wonderful place to be. It has always proven to be a safe haven from the world.

In the past few years since I moved in here, we haven't done anything really to the front of the house except mow the lawn.
This year I repainted our mail box and moved it forward. I placed bricks around the front as well and behind the bricks I planted a couple of flats of annuals. I decided to do this after looking around the neighborhood and realizing that there is really no color in anyone's yards. In the fall, I hope to plant some bulbs so that I have crocus, daffodils and tulips in the spring.
At the front of our driveway, I planted three rose bushes last year, but the plants did not survive the winter. I chose a better quality plant this year and have three varieties of roses that are already blooming.

Boy Mows Lawn Just Because his Mom asks

2009-05-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

So the grass was about 6-8 inches tall and I asked Scott if he would please mow the back yard. We didn't discuss how he would do it, he just grabbed his gloves and started picking up all the tennis balls in the yard.
Scott didn't hesitate in getting the job done, but never fear there were a few blades that escaped the deadly blades of doom.

2009-05-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Wood Badge is only 15 days away. What a wonderful thought. For anyone who has never been to Wood Badge, let me tell you what I learned about this training 6 years ago.

It was so much fun!!!

I was invited to be on staff for the 2008 course and was very honored that I was. I will tell you that when I was on course in 2003, I thought the staff were remarkable. They looked, to me, to be the epitomy of trainers and to be very honest, I wanted to be just like them. So when I was invited to be a Troop Guide, I could only hope to live up to the model the 2003 staff had provided.

I had so much fun, of course the 2008 staff was the most fantastic group of people who ever trained adult Boy Scout leaders, that is until this year. The staff for the 2009 course are absolutely the most marvelous group of people I could be associated with. (I can get away with saying this, cuz none of them know I have a blog)

I had so much fun on course in 2003 I was very sad to find out you can only take this training once (I'd go back as many times as I could), but being on staff makes up for it and it's so much easier than being a participant (you had to know my other patrol members to understand why) No offense guys, I loved being the butt of all your jokes. No really, it made it that much more fun. Not joking about this either.

Anyway, in case you can't tell, I am terribly excited about going up again.

Busy Day

2009-05-20T06:16:00.001-07:00

Wow am I tired today...Yesterday, for just a few hours I had Anita, Blake and Nick with me. We had lunch, played catch, played cars, played "Shock" football. They were all wonderful and wore me out. Then not two hours later, Korbin came to stay the night with me, his momma is ill and needs time to get better.

I love playing with the grandbabies (yes I know Blake and Nick are great nephews, but they call me grandma (pa). Since they call Mel nana and Bill paka, it's no issue for them to call me grandma and Jeff grandpa. Korbin calls me nana so if they were all in the same place at the same time it could get confusing.

Bowling again

2009-05-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, but Sean talked me into joining a bowling league with him on Thursday nights.

Knowing that Sean is a much better bowler than I am, I figured I could just roll balls down the lane and we wouldn't do too bad as a team.

This particular league is at North Bowl, one of the few houses left in Spokane. There have been some improvements on the lanes and the personnel. When Colonial Bowl closed a few years back, the crew moved on over to North Bowl and made it a better establishment.

The league is a mixed 4some. We were joined by a young man named Ryan and our fourth, John, didn't show up. Not knowing how Ryan bowls, we would have to see how he does on the first night. Well, the boys did not live up to my expectations that's for sure, especially Sean (I don't say it this way to be mean). Both Ryan and Sean bowled under 140 all three games. Very disappointing. I bowled my normal average the first game 153, a little better the second 162, and way better the last 180. My average for the first week ends up being 167. It's going to be difficult to keep that one up. The good part about the boys getting such low scores is that they have no place to go but up.

The league goes through August, so the pain of trying to keep my average won't last long.

2009-05-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, I started at 6:30 this morning and completed my garden tasks at 8:30 this evening.

I had to build the bed boxes, do some leveling and then finally got around to planting. My elbow is killing me.

I planted 4 varieties of tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, pumpkins, spinach, green onions, peas, green beans, carrots, yellow onions, red potatoes, russets, and one lowly little strawberry plant. And my husband's nemesis, zucchini and yellow summer squash (yellow zucchini).

Now all I have to do is sit back and wait...for the weeds. No really, this part of our yard worked very well last year and very little weeds.

My Husband is a Welding Stud

2009-05-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

I like to dutch oven cook, but there was really no good place for me to put the briquettes, so my wonderful husband made for me a stand to put the briquettes on. He also put a handle on a #10 tin so I can light my fire without much mess.

New Experiance

2009-05-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

So a couple of days ago, I was asked to substitute teach the CTR 6 & 8. These are Sunday school classes for children who are 6 and 8 yrs old this year. I agreed, but had a bit of apprehension because I've never taught much less been exposed to Primary.

I prayed about it and actually felt very good going in there today. The Primary children, all levels, meet for music and a lesson first. My job during that time was to keep the 5 yr olds corralled. I didn't think too much about that aspect. Most 5 yr olds I've been around lately know me so aren't shy and they don't pull away when they need corrected. So I had two 5 yr old boys, Corbin and Zander. I only ever see these two in sacrament, where their parents keep them under control (such as it is). I remember Corbin from when I first started attending church two years ago, but since I'm not exposed to him daily, I didn't really remember much about him. I also remember Zander, he is always so quiet in sacrament.

When I entered the room, I was pointed in the direction of where the two boys were and right away Zander was cuddling up to me, wanting to sit in my lap and snuggle. Corbin was very leery of me and kept watch out of the corner of his eye. When I tried to keep him from kicking the chair in front of him (it contained a 4 yr old boy) or keep him from messing with the 7 yr old girls behind him, he would shrug away and move down a chair or two. He occasionally got up and went over by the piano (his mom plays for primary), but after a few minutes he would return and I would thank him for coming back. It wasn't until I asked him to help me sing "I Am a Child of God" claiming I didn't know the words did he sit beside me and sang so that I could learn. He finally warmed up a bit and at one point both boys, one on each side of me, lay down for 5 seconds with their heads in my lap.

I wasn't sure if snuggling and cuddling was permitted, but no one said anything to me so I let them. I did encourage both of them to sit quietly next to me though.

I eventually met the three other boys. Two seven year old's and an eight year old, they were Mark, Luke and Taalib.

The lesson I gave was on "Heavenly Father helps us obey his commandments". The irony was and I did share this with the boys, I have been praying for the Lord's help in being more obedient.

I shared with them the story of Nephi obeying the Lord's commandment to build a boat to carry his family to the promised land. (1 Nephi 17). The boys all knew alot about Nephi retrieving the brass plates (1 Nephi 3), but were not as familiar with this story. They all participated with lots of energy and a bit of knowledge. It was great fun and very satisfying for me. I'm not sure I would want to teach primary regularly, I like teaching in Relief Society too much, but occasionally wouldn't be too bad.

I'm grateful I did have this opportunity.

All done

2009-05-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

Okay it looked way cooler when they were black and white pieces of paper. I got the wrong kind of iron on, but no big deal since after the weekend it will just be garage coveralls.

Preparing for Family Camp

2009-05-14T07:11:00.001-07:00

Over the Memorial Day weekend I will once again be on staff for the INWC Cub Adventure. Each year we have a theme and this year it's "Space".

Typically in the past I usually just wear my uniform, but this year I decided to make a theme costume.

This is the picture of the mock up. I printed and taped the mission patches so I could see how it would look.

Patches that will be included from BSA are:

on the right sleeve "BSA I'm a Scientist"

on the left sleeve "Space Derby"

on the right pocket BSA Merit Badges Nuclear Science, Astronomy, and Space Exploration

on the left pocket is the Philmont Trail Boss patch

on the collar are segments for Space Derby and World Awareness

NASA Patches include the NASA logo (known as the meatball) and the following Mission Patches:

Gemini XI, Apollo I, Apollo XI, Apollo XIII, STS 51-L (Challenger), STS 107 (Columbia) and Mission Control.

I think it looks really cool