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Saturday, March 29, 2008

Spring Break?

Yes, that was the moon this morning when I went to go meet Heidi for a seven mile run... 
It was all part of the strategy to get the running out of the way and meet with friends rather than putting off a long run later in the day. Now it seems so long ago. 
So this Saturday evening, I sit and eat Jelly Bellies, and try to reaccount the week...
Last Saturday, the morning of Emma's first party, my nephew and his wife came down from Vancouver to join us for Easter and Emma's birthday. We had a great time over the weekend, and Bud and Kes withstood my midday disappearance to go running. My evening disappearance was to Fred Meyer's in search of some Easter Bunny treats. My schedule during the week was crazy busy, and the Easter Bunny was never without children at the grocery. 
The highlight of Easter morning was that Bud and I joined the group on the church's annual Spencer's Butte sunrise hike. The low light was was Bud and I were the only ones to go on the hike. It seems that over all the years I've attended Reformation Fellowship, every year someone announces the hike and that there will  be hot chocolate, and sometimes Debbie's Blanchard's brownies. It's legend that some hikers may even get sick from overexertion. But somehow, I missed the unannouncement that no one had organized the event this year.  I had spoken with some friends the day before, and they were almost committed to the hike, but opted for sleeping instead.
So Bud and I donned our hiking gear, drove across town and made it to the parking lot by 6:10AM, otherwise know as the crack of dawn. Bud is quite the spry hiker, and as we were almost to the top of the mountain I had to tell myself, "I can run a half marathon. I can keep up with Buddy!" At we climbed to the top, it was sprinkling and windy, without an exciting sunrise, but it was one of those great bonding times for Bud and myself. The highlight of this early morning foray was watching a hawk sail in the wind above the butte. Although it was cold, we stayed  just a little longer to watch this awesome bird.  
Our visitors went to church with us, and listened to Jack Crabtree teach. It wasn't the usual Easter message, but I can't say we do anything too usual at our church.  We ended the afternoon home, with our Easter meal of roast and veggies. Kes was my kitchen coordinator/cook, while I dorkedly watched her work cuisine magic. 
-------------------------------------------------
So my last post was late Tuesday, as I slowed down, having survived my first teenage party. 
This meant that Wednesday, Spring Break was in full swing. The kids went to karate, and we met up with the our Bella friends at the Eugene Public Library. We'll it was sort of after karate. I had gone on a run with Heidi, and was absolutely soaked to the bone.  Although I don't normally dress to impress, I thought it best to go home and change, since my pants alone probably weighed five pounds! 
Our library visit was short lived, as the timing of our lateness was also the time limit of our wee little one year old friend. We were kindly invited for lunch post library, that turned out to be dinner as well. It's those friends that have put up with me for so long, that are those who are the precious gold in my life. 
Thursday, the birthday girl was in the midst of a full fledged sickness. Wednesday night she said she was cold, and Thursday awoke with a nice fever. So it's Saturday, and she's still sick. Maybe she'll be well just in time to go back to classes on Tuesday. Thanks to G-ma, on Thursday, Evander was able to get away from the Typhoid Pindell's. 
So Friday came, and I was so giddy waiting for a birthday luncheon at Marche for my good friend Linda. She's older than me, but allows youngsters to hang out with her. What also contributed to my giddiness was spending time with most of my very close friends throughout the week. I didn't even leave town!  This week felt like my birthday week!
Friday evening, Fiona and her family met us for dinner at Three Forks. My friend Erin was back from sunny California and joined up with us as well. Saturday, the De laMottes came to the house, and we chatted in up with Fiona and the fam while Fiona's very good friend, Sara Groves, played the background music. 

 
 

















OK, the silly, saddest part of the week is that I missed the birthday celebration at the Poet's Garden.
Since my last visit to Poet's Garden, I feel as though I have proselytized the merits of this fine establishment to all my lady friends. It's not just the amazing gardens these women have established that draw me to this place, it's their demeanor and grace that they share with their customers.  I also appreciate that Poet's Garden is a bit off the beaten path. I love that it gives me a moment's break in my role as a wife and mother, just to peruse through the gift items and admire the garden. 

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Slowing Down for a Moment


                                   Emma at our traditional IHOP birthday breakfast

I asked my husband, Paul, if he thought I had time to sit down before the next event. He said he hadn't seen me sit down much in the past few days.  I haven't gotten back up for several hours. 
Today, I woke-up late, as last night was Emma's birthday sleepover, which  was made up of only three girls, including Emma.  Being with three teenager girls ingesting sugar is like pouring Pop Rocks on the tongue. 
Wow. I have a teenage daughter. She was kind enough to let me hang out with her and the girls. I cannot count how many sleepovers I've attended, but I'd never given a thought that someday I would be at my own teenage daughter's party. 
Before the sleepover began, I went on a special trip to the store for iceberg lettuce. On my way, I felt compelled to call to my friend, Arlene, who more than likely was at my thirteenth birthday party. Arlene is phenomenal at keeping in touch with me. She sends cards on various holidays, calls to check-in, and has visited me more than once in Eugene. Arlene seemed as astonished as me with my news of becoming the parent of a teenager.

Emma's godmother gave Emma a great birthday gift, and with the gift was a note with the following a quote: 
As you journey through life, choose your destination well, but do not hurry there. You will arrive soon enough. Wander the back roads and forgotten paths, keeping your destination in your heart like the fixed points on a compass. Seek out new voices, strange sights and ideas foreign to your own. Such things are riches for the soul. And if upon arrival you find your destination is not exactly as you had dreamed, do not be disappointed. Think of all you would have missed but for the journey there, and know that the true worth of your travels lies not in where you come to be at the journey's end, but in WHO you come to be along the way.
-anon.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

A Fulfilling Weekend


Friday seems so long ago.
Our family has a blessed and full life, but our lives can move very fast. I sometimes miss cherishing those true moments of joy, because, to my detriment, I am "The Queen of Moving On." I see life as these "snapshots" of learning opportunities, and times to really and truly love people. But generally how I operate is that although I am thankful and grateful for spending time with people, I'm on to the next scheduled activity. Perhaps when we over schedule ourselves we miss enjoying the gifts that are given to us.
Saturday morning began with a celebration of Emma, as her thirteenth birthday is on Monday. At Emma's request, we met at the Fifth Street Public Market, downstairs at the Marche Provisions. Some of the people who have helped in the village aspect of raising Emma attended this gathering. Paul and I are blessed in that we have not done this parenting job on our own. The people at this gathering have gone out of their way to make themselves available for the caring of our children. They are not at a lack for teachers, or Aunties and Uncles.
Friday seems long ago, and I am too tired to give the rest of the account of our weekend. Perhaps tomorrow sometime in the whirlwind of Emma's birthday, I can record the other events of the weekend.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Special times with Indy kids


On his return from California this evening, my husband was quick to comment that he didn't know what I was doing because I had not made a post these past few days. I told him I was just too busy.
These busy times make for exciting posts, but I don't have time to go through all the details, so here is one of the great highlights of the past few days.
Our children's friends from Indiana joined up with us Wednesday after the kids were done with karate. As I am busy readying myself for visits and grand celebrations of Emma's thirteenth birthday, I have had errands and cleaning on the agenda these past couple of days. The kids obliged by having lunch at Costco, with a promise of a trip to the park afterwards.
I haven't commented much on homeschooling as a blog author, however, our conversation at the Costco table was quite fascinating. I'm not sure how the discussion began, but the children "talked amongst themselves" about their fondness of a home school education, and compared their likes and dislikes of a subject like math and history. The younger children discovered that they had all recently studied Roman history. They debated over the reasons why Romulus killed Remus, for quite some time (I asked Van how to spell these names, he replied, "How can you write about someone who you can't spell their name?"Ouch).
Who'd a thunk such a conversation would take place at the Costco hot dog kiosk.
The photos reveal the fun the kids had at the park. As we drove home I asked the kids how they liked the park. I had commented that Emma was almost too big for the park (she's grown taller than some of my adult women friends). Payton interjected with this question,
"How can someone ever be too big for the park?"




Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Look Who's at the Door!


Just this morning I was reading the Macy's ad in the paper noticing that robes were on sale. It promptly reminded me of my visit with Jodi in Indiana. She had the most comfy robe for me to wear, and in seeing the ad, I thought I should go buy myself one. Although it wouldn't have the same comfort without Jodi's hospitality. 
Today, in Evander's science class, I looked through the pictures from our visit to Indianapolis, missing the kids and Jodi. I even stopped to notice the picture I took of her dashboard with the "12" on the thermometer. 
After the class, I went upstairs to the lunchroom, and noticed the dismal weather outside. Another mother and I commented that the weather was, well, yucky. Then I said to myself, "At least it's not as cold as Indiana."
This afternoon, the kids and I were sitting on the couch in our living room looking at the schedule for the day, when we noticed a boy running to the door. Evander jumped up to investigate, assuming that it was his friend Logan. He looked out the window to see who it was-it was the boy from Indiana, Cooper!
When Evander noticed it was Cooper we heard a big, "Whoa!!!"
Evander rushed to open the door as he continued to exclaim, "Whoa!!" In a flurry of surprise, there stood Cooper, Payton and Jodi, our friends from Indiana! We hugged and laughed and kept pointing out that it was really them.
The kids stayed and played while Jodi went to an appointment. While she was gone, we fed them hot Nestle chocolate chip cookies and Umpqua vanilla bean ice cream, as it is apropos to share with such dessert loving friends. 
What a great surprise on such a day. We are looking forward to these next dreary days!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Best Buddy

Buddy with Jordan, Emma and me at Jay and Joy's wedding 1995

A while ago, a friend forwarded one of those "get to know you better" questionaires.  Sometime later on one of our runs, she remarked that she thought it was interesting that I answered the question of "Who has been your friend the longest?" with my nephew. Well, I have eight nephews and two great nephews. But my first nephew, Buddy, gets the longest friend award. 
Although his name is a given, Buddy has had to put up with "Crazy Aunt Nan" most of his life. I'm sure he could come up with plenty of stories. My memories seem to be a collage of activities-swimming, biking, body surfing, crawdading, fishing, camping, running, playing basketball on and on. I even took him to the high school dances-to dance with my friends. All very happy memories. 
He's grown to be a good man, husband and father. I don't see him as often as I should, but enjoy our times together with he and his wife. 
Not many girls can say their best friend growing up was their nephew, but Buddy certainly was my best friend. 
Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

I Have Been to the Mountaintop and Back Down, and then Up, and Down

My quandary began with the realization that I was to spend some time before twelve noon on Saturday running six miles. I completed my scheduled forty minute cross training by finishing the laundry and cleaning the house most of the day (I'm not sure if that's cross training or some sort of penitence). At approximately, 6:40P on Friday, I decided to check an e-mail regarding a local run calendar. I looked up a run scheduled for Saturday, and saw that I had less than twenty minutes to drive to the Eugene Running Company to sign-up for the run. I made it, twenty seven dollars later, I owned a black, long sleeved t-shirt with a very “different” representation of an Irish icon and a chance to run 6.2 miles in the Lucky Clover race.

For some reason last night, I decided that 3:30A was a good time to wake up for this event. I tried and tried to go back to sleep, but my busy brain thought it was important to dwell on such things as when I would go pick-up the litter at the end of my street. The train whistles, the airplanes, the constant rain, and the paper person all conspired to keep me from being ready for that race. Hours went by, and I finally fell asleep about the same time the alarm went off.
Fortunately, I had set “all” of my running clothes out the night before. Normally, this can take some serious time in the morning. I have to decide which really bright shirt to wear, choose which non 80's shorts to wear, and find which pair of socks doesn't have a hole them. The list goes on, and sometimes it can take a half-an-hour to get dressed in my running clothes.
The race took place at Dorris Ranch in Springfield, a little drive from my house. But I made sure I was on time. I arrived over 45 minutes early. I sat in the van staring at the moss on the tree. This forest looked as though it was capable of eating me.
I then called my running friend to apologize and confess I'd signed-up for the 10K without her. I thought of calling some other friends that might be able to sign-up fifteen minutes before the start. Not likely. I was on my own.
So I left the van, then went back into the van. It was too early and too cold to go to the start. The bagpipers had begun pipping. All good St. Patrick Day runs have bagpipers piping. I stayed in my car until fifteen minutes before the start.
I had the sorriest looking warm-up. I never really ran. I only walked about a hundred yards, and moved my arms around to look as though I was stretching. I had to work exceptionally hard at smiling, as the rain (did I mention it was raining) kept-up a steady cadence.
I hadn't entered a 10K since my very sorry time last July at the Butte to Butte. In the Eugene area, everyone who's ever donned running attire runs the Butte to Butte. 
Maybe two hundred Lucky Clover runners showed up today. I didn't recognize any of them, but some looked like the exceptionally well trained runner-super fit and ready to splatter me with mud.
This race, The Lucky Clover was unusual, in that you could pick the first 5K to run, either on a bark path, or a big hill and streets. Hmm.
I choose the hill last, because in the Eugene Half-Marathon, the hill is about half way through the course. I ran on the path first, and it has made all the difference.
While at the starting line, I had put my earplugs in and started my Nike+. I stood there stomping my left foot with the "pod" in it. This was to fool the Nike+ lady into thinking I was doing an activity. But soon, the race started with “Ready, Go!” Although, I couldn't hear the “Go!” with my earphones in. Everyone started going, so I followed. I quickly realized that the old cross country runner in me had to hold back. Running on the path with those people in front of me was a real temptation, as I had miles to go but wanted to dash past them. The path had patches of sloshy puddles, and I even sank down to my socks a couple of times. I only passed one woman, but I was smiling.
The second 5K proved, interesting. The hill wasn't actually that bad on the way up. I was able to put one foot in front of the other while Sheryl Crow sang “Every Day is a Winding Road”. I then began peeling off layer #2, the long sleeve race shirt. I did not realize that I was wasting the free ride on the downhill bumbling with my shirt. As soon as the hit the bottom of the hill, BAM! To the right, a short steep hill awaited me. I might have laughed out loud. I can't remember which song helped me through this hill, but it was a High School Musical song that was playing when two young things passed me on the return trip to the other side of the big hill. After that, I was all on my own. The gals stayed in front of me about a quarter mile away, but not close enough for me to feel an impending need to race past them.
I came around the last corner with “Anthem”, by Superchick, playing loud and strong. My finishing time wasn't necessarily remarkable, but I had a great morning during that wet, muddy and cold race.
At the finish, I guesstimated that I might have actually won something for my age group. I can't recall if that has ever been a possibility for me. I stood there in the rain waiting for them to list the age group winners. It took forever for them to get to my age category. I was very wet, and my muscles were shaking like never before. Then, the man called my name! I was the overall winner for my age group!
Ok, so I was giddy for myself. I cheered for myself and did a little shuffle-like jig. They gave me an interesting looking medallion which I promptly put on. I politely stood in the rain for all the other age group winners to be announced. Then I waited through the Irish trivia contest. Finally, they were done, and I ran off to the van so I could call Paul to tell him of my victory. But Paul was on the phone! I then made about five calls until I was able to get ahold of someone who would listen to my story, my mom.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Mountains of Laundry

A bit of reality has found it's way into my home. I stood on a mountain of laundry this afternoon, wondering if I would make my way down.
You see, between running, traveling and "writing", the laundry and other domestic duties have fallen to the wayside. Today, I ran out of important underthings, which means I really had to climb that mountain. 
I don't believe I've ever had to do so much laundry, so I dubbed the day, "Laundrathon".  I also toyed with the names of  "Laundrama" or "Launderama," even "Laund-o-rama".
I won't bore with the details of my laundering system, but I will say that most of the time, I turn on the tele when I fold clothes. Sometimes I let the ADHD take control. I'll stand and fold one item at a time, then go put it away. Again, one item at a time. 
OK, I barely ever watch Oprah. But sometimes, when I'm folding laundry, I do. Today, women like me were on the show. The women who are harassed by the "What Not To Wear" people. Apparently, these women volunteered to be subjected to the scrutiny of the fashion police. I want to know who gave them permission to make fun of me? 
This morning I kept my running clothes on after running. Not terribly unusual, but we had lunch later than we normally do, which gave me no time to shower and change before Evander's chess class. I exclaimed, "I have to go like this!" So, I went out wearing my new black striped track pants, my old running shoes, my lime green Sporthill shirt, and my salvaged, navy blue polyester long-sleeved shirt. My shirt is salvaged in that, I found it in the winter outdoor box. It had survived the winter, but the box also contained a rotten onion. It doesn't smell like onion anymore. It's just the thought of smelling like an onion makes it smell like an onion.
The fashionistas say not to go out in your exercise clothes-except for the ones they say you can wear. I think they might disapprove of my going out in the onion shirt.
It's a good thing I'm doing laundry today.  


Monday, March 10, 2008

Top Ten Notable Observations on Today's Run

1) The Communist flag is no longer hanging in the window at the City Bakery.
2)At the Amazon Community Center a “Tofu Adventures” class for 3/2 is being advertised on their sign. It also say, “Come Hungry.”
3)I didn't have to tell any dog owners on the Amazon trail to leash their dogs.
4)I saw a teenage smoker on a skateboard.
5)I gave a holler to some daffodils I helped plant at Gutenberg.
6)It seems college students wear their pajamas to class. In college, I wore lavender sweat pants, not pj's.
7)I'm wondering if I'm the only one not invited to be a contestant in the Miss Runner America pageant. It seems that the women who run at the same time I do around the university are all participants in the pageant.
8)Are they giggling at me when I run by?
9) Hayward field is looking way cool.
10)Six miles didn't use to be that long.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Where the Wind Blows



The “Hot Now”sign just went on. Here we are at the Krispy Kremes in Beverton Oregon. We are “stripmall schooling” at the moment. It is somewhat difficult for the kids to concentrate when the aroma of fresh doughnuts permeates the classroom. Evander is up watching the doughnuts come down the conveyor belt, and Emma is trying to work without the books she didn't bring.
This weekend Paul is working with a friend and we're going where the wind blows us. Our first stop is here at the Krispy Kreme. They do need to have different seats here. The bench seat pushes my upper body forward enough to feel that ever so slight muffin top roll over my jeans. I will not have another doughnut.
By the way, I was sorely dissapointed that they not longer give away the free hot doughnut. Those of you who know I love “free” I'm sure you are feeling my grave disappointment. Oh, did I mention that music is playing in the background. Do you think it's Doughnut Radio?

Earlier in the day, we found ourselves in Hillsboro at Paul's job site. I realized we were in my dear friend Fiona's neighborhood, so I gave her a call. Our spontaneity of plans were such that it happened that she and the kids were available to have lunch with us. The destination for lunch was the Panda Express, located in another strip mall. I wasn't raised in the Hillsboro area, but I imagine this was another “pave paradise and put in a parking lot”. Also at the strip mall was a Fred Meyer's. We traversed the Fred Meyer's shopping for a few things, stopped in at The Perfect Look for a quick trim for Van, and then met our friends for lunch.


It was difficult to end the fun with our friends, so we spent much of the afternoon at their home. During our marathon conversation, my friend had commented that she felt comfortable about her house not being impeccable while I was there. That was quite a compliment. Not only have we been friends for over twenty years, we can share even our dirty dishes. Of course, I did more talking instead of jumping in with the dishes but our “fly-by” was very rewarding. She offered to take the kids for the night, but Paul was to work late, and the generous offer would have to be taken up another day.
So we moved onto the East, and settled into the Executive Tower of the Portland Hilton. The kids and I roamed around downtown a bit, and tried to catch up with “Aunt Kes”, my nephew's wife. She works near the hotel where we stayed, but we missed her, as she leaves work early to miss those notorious Portland traffic jams.

We stopped at a Starbucks, and I tried with all my computer skills to log onto my blog. This being my first “play by play” to inform you all of our happenings on a three day trip North, I left the place frustrated that I could not magically connect to the Internet.
Saturday, we started off at a slow pace. Paul had finished his job late the night before, so we hung out at the hotel until the afternoon. We ventured out with our destination being OMSI, but couldn't even find a place to park! We are so spoiled by having museums mostly to ourselves during the school week, that we decided to move on. 
We headed to the Pearl District. Our draw was to the REI. As we drove by I noticed someone was climbing the climbing wall. That was enough to lead us that direction. So after a quick stop for coffee, Evander was the one who was up the climb.

 
Our next destination was our friends store "Upper Playground" at 5th and Couch. It's not my genre of clothing but the concept of the art in the gallery and on t-shirts was quite intriguing.  Our friends weren't there, but we were about a block away from an old high school friends parent's restaurant, "House of Louie." But she wasn't working either. 

We had intended to try and get together with some of my younger nieces and nephews on Saturday, but do to short notice and illness, we ended up having dinner with my "little" nephew, Matt, and his wife Elsa. 
We ate at Elsa's other kitchen, The Spaghetti Warehouse. It's always a treat being able to spend time with them. We had a bit of a wait for our table, so Elsa and I made a terrific team playing in the game room. It's a good thing neither of us are very competitive. 
Sunday morning, I accidentally packed away my camera. So I have no photos, only a report of our happenings. We made it out of the hotel to the Pioneer Courthouse Square. We had our breakfast in the Starbucks at the Square. The big city is quite busy, and international compared to our berg. We listened to others converse in Spanish while we read the paper. We also listened to a man talking to himself. Probably the most interesting was the group that was meeting with "Free Tibet" bumper stickers on their back.  On the way back to the hotel, we passed them as they were singing a very somber prayer. Such strange crossings of cultures. 
Our last stop downtown, was a trip to Powell's Bookstore. The kids seemed to enjoy this about as much as walking downtown. Although, we did leave with a few books, which they immediately started reading in the car.
We then headed East for a quick visit with Grandma Lois. She was kind enough to feed us a lunch before we drove South to Eugene. So ended another of our unplanned, where the wind blows trips.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

When the Clock Strikes Eight

When the clock strikes eight,
the lights flicker off
and the doors close
and I am in the dark abduction of my room,
sinking into my bed.
I feel small like a dust speck whooshing past my nose.
Every night I want to escape the dim deep room,
but no.
Here I sit
dreadful in the dark. 
Evander
Age 9

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

A Good Day

How does one describe a good day? What are the criteria for a good day? I can't say I have that "feeling" often, but today was a good day. 
I woke up earlier than usual, thinking I had to get Evander up to make sure his Tuberculosis report was ready for his science class. Of course, I did delegate that chore to Paul, as I decided to shower before making  a public appearance. 
This morning, I stayed in Evander's NASA science class and listened the the children's good, yet disgusting reports on diseases. It truly was "refreshing" to see the product of their labors. 
I also met with my writers class teacher in my office/Dodge Grand Caravan. I apologized for not having any tea, although, a half eaten Cliff Bar was in the seat I offered her. She didn't eat it.
The conversation was refreshing, in that, this woman is interested in the dialogue about expressing oneself through writing- expressing one's faith, person, worldview, etc. This whole process of writing and sending the writing out into the blogosphere is very, well, new to me. It seems I haven't put much of an effort into expressing myself with writing since my olden days of "quiet times". Now, this writing seems new, maybe some sort of new beginning, perhaps a new "role" in my life. 
Our conversation did come to an end, mostly because I had to get in the pizza line for lunch. Why would one stand in line for pizza?  It being Tuesday, our "business" keeps us from thinking far enough ahead to make a lunch. Emma does a much better job at packing a lunch than I, and I usually have one foot out the door when I remember to remind her to pack it. Well, the school orders the pizza from a local Figaro's, and unfortunately, only a limited amount of pizza is ordered. Hence, I have to make sure we get our pizza by securing my place in line well before the children rush out their classes. 
 Back to the fact that I was taking a meeting in the van while the pizza was delivered... Well, I not being too dissimilar to Pavlov's dog, knew that pizza would be in the building and abruptly ended our meeting.  What happens is that the aroma of that Figaro's pizza saturates the building. It then becomes a dire need to buy that pizza.
One mom said she would buy that pizza in lieu of manicures- just so she wouldn't have think about packing a lunch. 
 My friend later asked how the pizza was, I guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought.
What was good about the pizza? It was cold when I ate it. I hardly remember eating the pizza, because while I was standing in line I was handed an envelope. It was the envelope for which Evander had run out to the mailbox these past few day to retrieve(It was sent to the school, as they did not have our address). We took the envelope directly to Evander's writing teacher's room so she could watch him open it and see what was inside. It took him forever to cut the envelope open. The drama was so intense that the anticipation of knowing what was inside increased with every tiny cut of those tiny children's scissors.  
Inside the letter stated that he had won honorable mention in a local children's poetry contest! Apparently, over three hundred kids had entered the contest and his being honorable mention is, well, honorable. Evander's smile and his announcing  he'd won the contest was way better than hot pizza. I, as the proud Mama, wore that plastered on smile of pride...
Tuesday's schedule has us racing from one event to the other, however, the day kept getting better. I had the opportunity of meeting with a friend over coffee to discuss a parenting issue. My friend and I hadn't had a sit down conversation for quite a while. The time is always well spent being with her, as she is a woman who exudes the wisdom of one who pursues God. The grace, kindness and humor she shares gives me encouragement in my fumbling as a parent.
Is this an end to the never ending Tuesday? No, the day just kept getting better... I'll skip to the end where the Cub Scout meeting went well, as we ceremoniously celebrated the boy's accomplishments in their progress in ranks. The other leader did such a good job preparing for the meeting that the kids truly had good time, and my not being prepared was easily overlooked.
OK, that's the short version of my good day, a thank you Jesus kind of day. 
 


Saturday, March 01, 2008

Illidiot

I have made it a whole week on the blogosphere only to discover that I am an illidiot. Or is it, I am illidiot? 
Writing this past week reminds me that although I began my college career in journalism, I ended it with Human Services. Instead of writing stuff about people, I did stuff with people. I do not regret the path that I have taken. I began my journalistic career wanting to make television commercials. But instead of working for "the man" I opted to work for "the Man". 
It was a horrible experience that I had in "Grammar for Journalists" my sophomore year at the 
U of O, that lead me to switch careers. As I recall, while taking the final exam, I became the victim of the multiple choice exam. I thought, "Well, I could use this in a sentence this way, or I could use it that way-no that way. It wouldn't make me a bad person to use it that way". I had so many choices, so many options-too many options. I earned a "D". I was horrified. I hadn't earned such a grade since French my freshman year (The teacher told me I could speak French, but didn't know anything).
 I prefer Spanish anyway.
 So now, this writing in English reminds me of my past grammar woes. I find myself in situations that leave me wondering if I should use a comma, or a colon, or a semicolon.  What or which are the rules? Then there's deciding which word would fit best in the context. There are a lot of words (I was told by my freshman high school English teacher never to use a lot).
I shant forget what I tell my children,  spelling does count. Especially when you've posted about a person, and then a little birdie tells you the name of that person is misspelled, not mentioning that it's misspelled over half a dozen times. 
But I will write on. I don't have my English teacher, grammar teacher, or French teacher telling me I don't know anything. I can figure that out by  my own, illidiotic self.