Motorcycling Through Life

Fall

2008-11-02T09:23:00.003-05:00

Life has been busy, so once again I won't make any excuses for not updating this blog.

Number one big change would have to be the birth of my third grandson, Evan Michael on October 8th. Everything went well and now I have a new "little man". Mason has now become my "middle man" and I guess that makes Sean my "big man"! What a pleasure grandchildren are.

A most amazing thing has happened to me this fall. I always was afraid to fly and really haven't done it much in the past. In September I went to a training seminar in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and of course had to fly. My supervisor was fired shortly before so I ended up making the flight by myself which I was actaully quite happy about because the man had started to drive me insane and the idea of traveling with him was just beyond what I felt I could endure. So off to the airport I went and the flight went well. I was able to call the hotel to get picked up at the airport, something I had never done and was quite proud of myself. I know these things are quite simple but for me, someone who hates to make phone calls and is afraid of trying new things because of the thoughts of failure, this is quite an accomplishment. I guess some of my past therapy has worked after all!

The training was excellent (Q'Straint) and within days I was flying home. I had a chance to take a bump but figure why bother, I don't have anywhere else to fly to. When I mentioned this fact to my guy, he replied something along the lines of "you could always come here". I was surprised because he had never mentioned me going to visit him and when I mentioned that to him he was surprised that I felt I needed an invitation. It was a pleasant surprise to me and now I regretted not making a trip to NC during the summer. Oh well.

A couple days later I was looking at the school calender and noticed we had a long weekend coming up. That night I was on the computer checking flights, talking to my guy on the phone and making plans for a trip to NC. The next day I ordered the tickets and last weekend I was flew to NC to spend a wonderful weekend with him.

I was nervous about this because even though we have been together almost two years, we had never really spent much time together for hours and hours much less spending even one night together. What if we found out that we really couldn't stand being together that long? We talked about this before I got there and I think we were both very pleasantly surprised and pleased to get along just great!

Now I'm looking at prices of tickets for another trip to visit for a longer time. So I have gone from fear of flying to a semi savy traveler looking at different flights going to different cities wondering if I should try different carriers to see which works best to get to my ultimate destination.

Once again I have to remind myself that change is good!

Returning to Normal

2008-09-07T14:23:00.005-04:00

Fall is coming soon.
School is open again.
I've returned to my driving job at school with added duties this year.
I can put court behind me now from the accident.
Mom is in rehab now and will soon be going into the nursing home to live.
My friend Jody is going to start cleaning out Mom's house.
Cory and Krista plan to remodel then moved into Mom's house in the future.
My supervisor at my second job was fired.
I think they think I'll be applying for the position but now I know that I belong behind the wheel of a school bus.
Last weekend I got to spend time with my guy.
I won't see him for months now. I'm sad, but accepting.
Got a new roof on the house.
Put in new windows.
The garage is secure now with new "man" doors that lock and a window instead of a board in the wall!
A new mantle on the fireplace! (made from wood from the old waterbed!)
Went to Adirondacks with my friends, what a good relaxing time that I needed so badly.
While going through my Mom's place, I found my baby shoes, made from white elk and costing $2.95.
Also found my Dad's baby shoes and locks of his hair from his first haircut. What a blond he was and with curls.
Learning much family history and finding wonderful family pictures.
New baby coming within the next month, it's a Boy, Evan Michael.
It has taken a while, but I finally feel like life is returning to normal just a tiny bit.

It's Been Ages... Again

2008-08-01T07:55:00.004-04:00

Once again it has been ages since I have posted. So many things have happened that I don't even know where to start. So I guess I'll just give you a list

My guy moved away.
I was in an accident.
I had many medical tests. Some were really strange but got good reports.
I have sleep apnea and now using a cpap machine and I'm sleeping again!!!!!!!!
I'm dreaming like crazy for the first time in many years.
My guy came home for a visit. I can't wait until the next time.
There is the possibility of being offered a full time job at my "second" job.
Gas got so expensive I'm not even doing joy riding on the bike, just back and forth to work.
Nicki was home for a few days for a visit.
Friends from Canada came for a weekend visit.
Another friend from Canada comes next week.
I haven't seen one honey bee all summer long.
Seen traps for the Ash borer beetle in local trees.
To save gas, not mowing lawn very often, takes twice as long to mow so not sure I'm really saving anything.
Letting the pool just sit this summer, sorry I even opened it, still thinking about filling it in.
Had plumber come to fix the toilet, ended up getting new outdoor faucets, new water heater (other one was 35 years old) and today they are installing a new more energy efficient furnace.
Not sure I ever want to drive school bus again.
Still don't know if new baby due in October is a boy or a girl.
Knitting baby things like crazy in gender neutral colors.
Summer is going by too fast!
Heading out in a few weeks for a motorcycle trip to the Adirondacks to meet many new friends from the Venturers.
Had to postpone tattoo work planned for my back because of a slow healing wound/infection in my leg from the accident.
I talk to my guy everyday.
Been hot and humid but my fans are still working.
Bought a new boxspring and mattress for my bedroom to help me sleep better.
Getting rid of the waterbed in the guest bedroom.

A Doggie Tail (Tale)

2008-06-03T19:14:00.006-04:00

In mid-March, I adopted a Saint Bernard that I named Penny. She is the third Saint that I have owned so there should have been no surprises. Each of my dogs has had their own special personality and caused their own frustrations. The number one thing I have learned with this dog, which is my first smooth-coated Saint, is that smooth-coated dog shed just as much as a rough-coated! The only other explanation for all the hair on the floor in my house is that I just don't remember how much more there may have been with the other dogs.

So now here it is the beginning of June and I decide that Penny seems to be pretty needy and likes to follow me from room to room so maybe she would stay right with me outside. Last night was the first test. I had been working on the pool, getting it ready to be started today so took Penny out with me and she did great, staying just a few feet away, peeing and pooping and then gladly going back into the house with me a little while later. Then just before going to bed I took her out and she peed while I sat on the deck praising her. No leash and she showed no desire to take off.

Now the next morning I'm beat from a not very restful night's sleep. My alarm goes off and I know I have to get up and hit the shower. Hey, Penny was so good, let's see what happens this morning. So out through the bedroom sliding door, I sit on the deck and off she goes to pee, then she moves off further to poop and then she looks at me as if to say "see ya", turns her back on me and away she goes to the woods working her way over to my Mom's. Of course I call her but get no response from her. I head back into the house, calling myself some names, throw on a pair of shorts, slip into some clogs and keep my football jersey jammies on. Get in the car, head down the road and when I get to the corner notice Penny at the house across the street from Mom's. I pull into their driveway, open the back door of the car, call Penny and she comes right over and into the car. I turn around for home, pull into the garage, close the door and we head back into the house with me praising Penny for coming and getting the car.

I head into the shower after calling my boss just to assure him that if anyone wondered where I was, that I was running late but would be into work in plenty of time to start and pretrip my bus. Into the shower I go, get out and get dressed then start to walk out into the kitchen, thinking how I'm making great time and I might get to work my normal early time. Then all of a sudden I notice that the dog isn't following me around. I look around from room to room and no dog! What the heck!

Then I notice it. I had never closed the sliding glass down in my bedroom! She is out on the loose again!!!! Once again I get into the car and head down the road. She isn't back at the neighbors so I turn around and head up into the subdivision up the hill from me but no sign of her. I head back into my yard and decide to drive back behind the house. Sure enough, I get back by Cory's "stuff" and there she is. I call her and she runs right over but I decide not to put her into the car, just let her run along side me. When I get back up to the house I just head right into the garage thinking she will follow me. WRONG!!! Down the driveway she heads out to the street. Thank Goodness I leave on a fairly quiet road, especially at 6:30AM. So I back the car out to the road and get out calling her after I open a couple car doors. She run back and forth on the road for a minute, I see a car coming and then she runs to me, past me and turns around and does the same thing in the opposite direction. The car passes by with no problem and then I figure I might as well walk back to the car and call her. She runs right over, hops into the front seat then crawls into the back seat.

Now my driveway is only 250 feet long, BUT, as I drive back into the garage, she shakes that big head of hers and the slobber goes everywhere! In the garage, I close the garage door then let her out of the car and we both walk into the house. She is panting like crazy so I refill her water bowl, grab the rest of my stuff for work and head back towards the garage. Penny spends her day in the laundryroom where I say Good-bye to her and out the door I go. I get back into the car (it had started to rain so no bike today) and pulled out, finally catching my breath and thinking "maybe this dog is more trouble then she is worth".

So now it's evening, Penny and I have been outside several times, always on the leash and I'm thinking "one of these days she is going to grow up and settle down". I must have been crazy for getting another dog! But I did get her and I'm sticking it out!

Just in case you are interested, I did get to work on time, 15 minutes later then I usually do, but in plenty of time to get my bus pretrip done along with my paperwork. I even had time to shut everything down and just relax a few minutes before heading down the road.

Tough days ahead

2008-05-28T21:17:00.002-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been a bit rough. The days are drawing closer to the day my guy leaves to move to another state 600 miles away. I will only see him another time or two before he leaves and as much as I want to say I'm dealing with it, I can also feel myself falling apart.

If you watch Good Morning America, the weekend edition, then you have probably seen the bit they do every few weeks call "Three Words". The idea is to sum up your week in just three words. An interesting concept, somehow based on the idea of using only Two Words, but expanded to three. It also calls to mind the idea in "Eat, Pray, Love" when one person in the book asks another person what one word tells the most about that person. I decided that one word doesn't do it for me and picked the words "Sorrow" and "Strength" as I feel that from each Sorrow in my life I have gained great strength.

So now I'm going to try to put my feelings into a series of three word comments.

He's moving away
I'll miss him
I love him
Don't forget me
Heart is breaking
I'm so sad
Please come visit
Heart will mend
I'll be fine
I'll be stronger
Never forget you
Thanks for fun
It was wonderful
Always my friend
Call me often
Life goes on!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T14:38:00.003-04:00

Today is Mother's Day and I got an annual e-mail from a good friend that tells about how she reflects on Mother's Day each year and how wonderful motherhood is and how amazing her kids are, etc, etc.

Every year I get that e-mail and I'm so happy for my friend that she feels that way. My conclusion is about the same as hers but I go about it in such a different way.

I think I was a really crumby Mom. I was raised by a grandmother who did everything for me so I guess I kind of grew up thinking my whole life should revolve around me. I was spoiled rotten as a kid and I felt it should just continue into my adulthood. So I have my two kids, daughter Nicki and son Cory. I'm sure it didn't help, but when they were 4 and 2 years old, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a rather extreme case. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and within a couple of years of having a massive heart attack due to my body going completely out of control. Of course one of the tricks your body/mind plays on you is that you think everything is just fine when really you are falling completely apart.

I did make a complete recovery but did go from having hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism brought on by the radioactive iodine used on me wiping my thyroid right out. I was in such bad physical shape they didn't believe I could survive thyroid surgery. Mind you, this all happened in my early 20's, so I've been on thyroid medication for over 30 years.

I always use to say that my son turned out the way he did because of me being his mother and my daughter turned out the way she did in spite of me being her mother. Cory didn't have it easy during his childhood while Nicki always seemed to be able to breeze through life.

So now I'm in my mid 50's. Nicki and Cory are in their mid 30's. I couldn't be more proud of my kids! I don't try to take too much credit for how they have lived their lives. They have my genes so I guess there are things that can't be denied. I have seen them overcome some tough times in their lives, a child born with a disability, a divorce, addictions, watching their parents tear about their own lives in a divorce, changing jobs, listening to their mother rant when my life seemed to spiral completely out of control and so many other things that I've never been made aware. Oh yes, I'm proud off all their good things in life, producing wonderful children, working so hard at their jobs, having warm and caring homes, etc, etc. Those things are easy to be proud off. But I think I'm more proud of the rough time they have overcome and come out stronger people because of it!

So Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

A beautiful end to a dreay day

2008-05-04T12:36:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a rather cold damp type of day. I didn't do much outside at all. About 8PM I noticed the sun coming out and that it was raining so I figured there was a good chance of a rainbow and I was right!

The first three pictures are looking east at the rainbow. The fourth picture is what the clouds looked like at the time, looking west. The last picture is the clouds again while looking north. They were moving along at a pretty good clip.

What a Week

2008-05-03T09:17:00.002-04:00

What a week it turned out to be. I got my E-Z Passes on Wednesday, I got my passport on Thursday and sold my Yamaha FJR on Friday! I loved my FJR but just couldn't ride it anymore due to my back and hip problems. I hated to sell it, but it was silly to keep it if I couldn't ride it. I had taken it to Don George's Sports Center to sell on commission almost a year ago. Yesterday Steve, my salesman, called me and let me know he had a buyer. I had recently told Steve to get whatever he could for it, I just wanted the money. So I was very pleased when he told me what my cut would be after taking out the commission. I got more then I thought I would end up with.

Within a few hours I was at the store to sign the paperwork expecting to get a check for the amount owed me. Imagine my surprise when Steve walked up to me and handed me a fist full of $100 bills! I went right to the bank and deposited it, most going into paying towards my home equity principal and the rest going towards paying off the work I had done on my Venture last month.

So now I have enough money saved up to have the new windows put in the house that I need so badly. My bills will all be paid up and now I can save up for my trip this summer up to the Adirondacks to spend time with friends.

I did spend a little of the cash to take Cory, Krista and Mason out for dinner and then later downloaded some music from itunes (Carly Simon's new album, some Goo Goo Dolls, some Kingston Trio that I was missing [drats, I still can't find the Tattooed Lady song] and one cut by Chris LeDoux [Life is a Highway])

This morning I continue fighting the cold or sinus infection I picked up this week, a relatively mild case but annoying just the same! I vacuumed up massive amounts of Saint Bernard hair and now must fight my way through a mountain of mail and get some laundry done. I also put the finishing touches on a couple of knitting projects so I can get back to work on a big knitting project that I'm actually getting paid for. Cory will also be over later so we can get some trash out to the road for the townwide spring trash pickup. No wonder weekends fly by so fast! There is just too much to do!!!!!!

Progress

2008-05-01T19:01:00.003-04:00

There are things I've been thinking about that I kept putting on the back burner. You know, kind of like Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind saying "tomorrow's another day". So last week I got my act together and got some stuff done.

Number one was applying for my passport. I blogged earlier about having to get another birth certificate and how quickly it arrived. Last Tuesday I stopped to the post office with all my paperwork and money and got the paperwork sent to the government. Yesterday I noticed that my check cleared. Today I got my new birth certificate returned to me with the notice that my passport had been approved. Yippee! Now it's just a matter of getting the actual passport.

Over the weekend my fella' was away, visiting North Carolina, where he is moving at the end of this month and we got talking about how nice it was that the E-Zpass works in so many different states. I mentioned to him how I had thought about getting one and with his encouragement, after we said good-bye I went to the computer and ordered them online. I say "them" because it ordered one for my car and one for my bike. Turns out if you have an E-Zpass on your motorcycle, it's cheaper then paying cash, so I figured I might as well get them both. You are allowed up to 4 passes per account. Today when I got them mail, there were my passes. WOW, that was fast.

So now a couple things I've been talking about doing for what seems like ages have now been done! Hmmm, so what should my next goal be?

I did take most of the day off from work. Yesterday I felt a bit of a sore throat. Just a tickle really, but enough to remind me that I hadn't been sick all winter, which is a real milestone for me. During the night I found myself waking up every hour during the entire night. When I woke up to get ready for work I realized that I really felt grummy and decided to call in sick. I took the dog out quickly then crawled back into bed and fell to sleep waking up shortly before my guy called me. After talking with him, I decided to call into my other job and tell them I wouldn't be in there either. I stayed in bed until after 10am. It was wonderful. My throat felt worse and then I started with some head congestion. Call me slow, but it was then I realized that it's probably my sinuses that are acting up. I decided to go to school and work in the afternoon. My sore throat just about all gone but now my nose is feeling a bit congested and I'm on the verge of a headache. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel much better. We have a half day of school so a bunch of us will head out for breakfast in the morning between runs, then after the runs are all done I'll head to Aspire for the rest of the day. That's the plan anyway.

Podcast Freak

2008-04-20T12:47:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I'll admit it. I'm a podcast freak. I blame my daughter of course. The last time she was home (at Christmas) we hopped in her car to do some errands and she plugged in her iPod and started to play a podcast. Something we laughed ourselves silly over (a conversation between Fred and Barney of the Flintstones after Barney had run over and killed Dino - it was hilarious). This was all the encouragement I needed to look into downloading some popcasts for myself.

I started out slowly, looking over each one carefully. I wasn't sure if I would even enjoy listening to the spoken word but within a few days I was totally hooked. Before long, my son had the hook up installed in my car so that it would play right through that system along with charging. Not that I'm in the car all that long, but suddenly my trips between my jobs and home seemed much shorter.

Let me see if I can find more podcasts I might be interested. Funny how just about everything looks interesting when your thirst is great. I downloaded things from NPR, APM, CNET and many independents.

OH NO, then I discovered video podcasts! A whole new genre to enjoy.

I checked for update almost every day. The heading into bed at night, I would put the iPod on the docking system I kept in there and watched any of the videos that were new that day. After I was done with the videos, I would listen to an audio podcasts and fall asleep. The next morning I would hook up the ipod in the car and try to figure out where I had fallen asleep the night before. I no longer went into the bus garage between routes. Why would I want to talk to anyone when I could sit in my bus and listen to a podcast? While grocery shopping I would walk around listening to another podcast. Waiting at the doctor's office, I would sit where I could watch for the nurse coming to get me so I wouldn't miss my name being called while I listen to another podcast. Out to lunch on my own, no problem, a podcast on the good old ipod would keep me company.

Reading became a thing of the past. I haven't touched a book in weeks. None of my friends listen to podcasts, much less own an ipod so I had nothing to share with them. On occasion when my daughter and I would talk we could share different podcasts that we enjoyed and amazingly, we have very similar tastes.

Today I sat down at my computer and deleted ALL my podcast. I wanted to start out fresh, wipe out all the old podcasts that needed deleted and then reload just my favorites again. Would I remember them all? I ended up with 18 podcasts, both audio and video. That's down from over 30. Now let's see if I can control myself!

But in case you are interested, here is some of my very favorite podcasts.

I guess I would have say the podcast I enjoy the most is NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me. It's a game show based on events of the past week, mostly political with guest stars playing for people who call in. It is hilarious. The host, Peter Sagal is a riot. I often worry about listening to this while grocery shopping because it makes me laugh out loud.

Another favorite is CNET's The Buzz Outloud. This is a technology podcast that is very funny and educational. Many time I don't have a clue what they are talking about but I still love the way they present things with so much humor.

More Hip Than Hippie is another timely podcast. Two woman talk about how to live a greener life with simple suggestions for around the home and also discuss much larger world issues of energy and the like. All is told with much humor as they sample the beer and chocolates that are sent to them. These girls now how to have some fun!

My week wouldn't be complete without Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion from APM, the news from Lake Wobegon. His calming voice is very easy to listen too as he weaves his tales about life in Minnesota. I think maybe it reminds me of listening to my Dad telling stories when I was a kid. It's amazing how a soft spoken male voice can pull you into the story so completely. This is another podcast that I find myself laughing out loud.

Another story teller that I've become fond of is Baba The Story Teller, Timeless Tales Told Tastefully. Baba gives hints on being a good storyteller, gives a moral of the day and tells a very simple story, often very short but with much meaning.

Because I'm a knitter, I decided to download some knitting podcasts. I'm not down to listening to only one, Sticks and Strings done by a bloke from Australia. I guess part of my first fascination was to listen to a guy talk about knitting but after a few weeks I realized he was the only one I was listening to and have deleted all my other knitting podcast. With the accent, he's fun to listen to but I also really enjoy his style and what information he presents. In his "real" life, he's a school teacher so I'm sure that's why he present himself so well. What is most fun is trying to figure out what he is talking about sometimes as some of the terms he uses aren't what we use here in the states. Luckily I have an online motorcycle friend in Australia and he helps me out when I have a question about what this podcaster is talking about. An example, recently he was talking about knitting a jumper. Turns out that is a sweater to Australian, not a dress like I thought. Then I found out that they call sweatshirts sloopyjoes! Oh the many things I have learned!

There are many more podcasts that I'll be listening to in the future including The New Yorker's Animated Cartoons (a video), The Onion News Network (another laugh out loud item), The Twisted Wrist (motorcycling) and NPR This American Life (which takes a different and interesting look at life with three acts, extremely thought provoking)

There are so many other podcasts I would like to try but now that I'm riding the bike more I won't be listening to podcast as much. The spoken word just doesn't come across as well on my radio speakers. But there is certainly something for everyone in the world of podcasting!

What a Week!

2008-04-19T08:35:00.002-04:00

What a week it was. I had the week off from school due to Mid Spring break. I was hoping to be able to really enjoy some time to myself, but I'm sure you know the saying "the best laid plans of mice and men........". All and all, I did have some additional time to myself along with more time to do things that had to be done and had been put on the back burner for a while. I guess I've also been blessed because no matter how out of control things seem to get, I'm usually able to find the bright side of just about each situation.

I was able to put in extra time on my Aspire job so that I was able to take a day off in the middle of the week. I had set up an appointment to meet with a social worker from the Catholic Health Systems to have Mom evaluated to see if she needed to be moved into a nursing home. I prepared myself for a week for this decision and how Mom would deal with it. Wednesday morning I meet with this woman at Mom's house and to my surprise, Mom is OK'ed to continue living on her own. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I explained to the lady that I was having some health problems, that I have no real support system here to help me out with Mom and that due to my health, I'm still trying to travel as much as possible while I can. I was assured that this is no problem, all I need to do if find some outside help and that Mom should be fine for who knows how much longer on her own.

I leave that meeting to head to the post office to apply for my passport. Fortunately I had notice there was a newer form to fill out and had that ready along with my birth certificate. I had the cash in my pocket to pay for it and knew that the folks at the post office would be able to take the needed pictures. The woman at the post office looks at my birth certificate and what the hey, they can't use my birth certificate because it doesn't have a raised seal! OK, nice way to make a person feel old. She explains to me that I have to go to the Buffalo City Hall to get a copy of my BC with the raised seal and all I can think if how much I DON'T want to drive into Buffalo and find a parking space and have to take time off from work in order to accomplish this whole project. Meanwhile, they went ahead and took my pictures for the passport and checked my other paperwork to make sure that was all in order.

I'm soon back on the road again, luckily on the bike so I can enjoy the beautiful day. I head on over to Don George's Sports Center to drop off my lien release on the FJR and also pick up the plate so I can turn it in. I also tell Steve to sell, sell, sell. I need, want, lust, desire for the money I can get for the sale of this bike.

That night I decide there has got to be a way to get a new birth certificate online and save myself the trouble of going downtown Buffalo and sure enough, there is a link right from the Buffalo Vital Statistics page to order new BCs at a cost of a fee of only $8.50. I'm pleasantly surprised at this as what I will save from not having to pay a parking fee and taking time off from work, this is a true bargain! So I proceed with the process then end up having to print up a form which I just need to fax to the proper office. The next morning I do just that once I get to work at Aspire. Then I figure it will take a week or more time to receive the goods. Surprise, Surprise, it's in the next day's mail! When I open it, what another surprise, it must be a copy of a microfiche or something as it appears to be a negative image meaning the paper is black and the writing is white! and it's tiny but sure enough, it's got the required raised seal so I guess it is official. This morning I take a good long look at it and find out it's really the very original with more information then what my regular BC has. I know now that I was born at 6:59PM which is something I never knew before. Turns out this is the form that the attending doctor signed, the same doctor who delivered my sister and most of my cousins. The only thing it doesn't tell me if how long I was when I was born.

Friday I get to go out to lunch with my buddy Jody. As some of you will remember, Jody was my "spiritual guide" during my divorce. The other day we realize how much we missed having some time to just spend together and really catch up on each other's life's twists and turns. Keeping true to form, we couldn't meet on Thursday as we had planned the week before but were able to meet on Friday. Jody had worked in the early morning at school doing some training of new drivers then came to my Apsire office but of course I was in a last minute department meeting which went a bit longer then I expected. Top that off with Jody having to get to the Vet's office to pick up Merle from his surgery by 1PM, well, our lunch was shorter and faster then what we had hoped but still very enjoyable. All I can say is that I hope we find time again soon to get together hopefully with Bev when she gets home from her winter in NC.

Friday afternoon was topped off by taking Mom to the doctor's office. I called her to remind her that she had an appointment which of course she had forgotten. It was a long wait at the doctor's office but it was good to see her leg had healed up very nicely and the swelling in her legs had gone down very nicely as well. While we were waiting in the office I received a phone call from a florist telling me they had just delivered flowers to my home and left them on the front porch. Flowers! Wow! I texted Nicki and sure enough she had sent them to me. I couldn't wait to get home to see them. I get Mom home and then get to my home and there are my beautiful flowers.

A couple of weeks ago, I found half of a $20 bill laying in the bus garage yard. I took that to the bank just the other day, hoping to get a new $20 but alas, you have to have both side with both numbers in order to get it replaced. I'm assuming the other half was blown away when the snow uncovered that half. I'm not sure it's worth hunting around the yard anymore. That same day I finally turned in a lottery ticket worth $2 that I had received as a Christmas present from a family of some kids that ride my school bus. Hey, $2 is more then I expect! While I was disappointed not to get the $20 from the bank, then next day I open my mail and there is a check for $20 from Mercy Hospital from something I had done in May of 2007 which would have been a co-pay. Must have been for some x-rays I had taken last spring. So that was like found money in it's own way.

The worst news/event of the week was that Russ has pretty much made up his mind that he is going to move to North Carolina. He recently sold his house and after some time in the hospital and having a stint put in one of his arteries for a blockage, his company came to him asking him if/when he was going to be ready to move. While he says he is still conflicted about the move, he is going down there next weekend to look for a place to live. They expect him to move there by the first of June. He needs to be out of his house just about the same time. So our time together is limited now. Not that our time hasn't been limited all along due to our/his circumstances, but now he will be 600 miles away, not 10 miles. Yeah, I fell apart for a while, but I'm dealing with it and I know I will be just fine. After all, I have in the past and I know I will be just fine in the future.

With all the ups and downs of this past week or two, the weather has finally turned around and spring is finally here. The flowers are blooming and the trees are starting to leaf out which means that the grass is starting to grow so I guess that means I need to get the lawn mower out. I'm started siphoning the water off the top of the pool, the peepers have been peeping for the last couple weeks and just a couple days ago I started hearing the boy toads making the love calls to the girl toads. I've been able to leave the bedroom window open over my bed during the night and Penny, my new Saint Bernard, is shedding as is Dickens the cat.

I'll try to be more in touch with my blog, but not making ANY promises!

Happy New Year and Happy Groundhog Day!

2008-01-30T13:04:00.000-05:00

Guess I should start out by saying I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post anything. Things sure were crazy around the holidays and then just didn't seem to slow down afterwards.

Today I'm enjoying a nice lazy day. Oh sure, I've had a couple easy days recently, including MLK Day when both the school and Aspire were closed so I didn't have to work. This past Monday the school was closed for a staff development day so I just had to work at Aspire where I put in a little extra time. But today is really sort of special because it couldn't be planned for in advance.

The weather people were calling for wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour and they were right. About 4AM this morning the winds kicked into high gear and the temperature dropped quickly from in the low 50's down into the high teens in just a few hours. I haven't heard how much snow has fallen, but with the strong winds, none of it has hung around for long. It just sort of blows on through. All the schools are closed and when I called into Aspire, all the programs had closed, all the drivers had gone home and due to my empty schedule for the day, I decided I would just take the day off as well. I also called the doctor's office to cancel an appointment.

Now I'm a professional driver, I'm sure I could have gotten to work or the doctor's appointment, but there is also the problem that my car is sitting in the yard over at the bus garage. Last night I worked later then normal so I had permission to bring my bus home. My first route in the morning starts right down the street from my house so I do bring my bus home when I work late. That way I get to sleep in a little bit more. It's amazing what that extra half hour can do for a person's soul!

So here I sit in a cold house (I'm almost out of fire wood so I let the fire go out during out recent warm spell) and every time I walk past a window in the front of the house, I'm surprised to see that big yellow bus in my driveway. Of course my poor car is not use to sitting outside, but at least I had a remote starter put in it just a couple days ago, so at least I can get it started tomorrow when I pull into the bus yard so it's warmed up before I head on down the road back to Aspire.

I've also been very busy with some knitting projects. Between watching a DIY network program called Knitty Gritty and now listening to the many knitting podcasts I download, I've become inspired to try some new projects and I'm thinking about trying some new yarns including alpaca. I've even learned about a big yarn show that is held in October near my daughter's area so we are thinking about heading there later this year. I've even toyed with the idea of trying to dye some yarn myself. Meanwhile I'm content with using my cheapo yarn and putting it together in interesting patterns to make scarfs. I'm also contemplating making socks, which is something I swore I would NEVER do! I guess I finally feel like I'm up to the challenge. I'm also hoping my feet have forgotten the socks made me back when I was in elementary school!

So the New Year has brought new challenges to my life. I'm just as busy as always but even with the awful weather today, I'm amazed at how quickly this winter seems to be going by so I'm glad that I've been keeping busy to make it zoom by!

I'm also looking forward to meeting a couple Venturer members. This weekend a bike from GA that is presently garage in Delaware will be transported to my garage until it's new owner from North Bay, Ontario can get all the paperwork taken care off. It's been fun being part of this transportation relay and it will be fun having another Venture in the garage.

I'll try to keep more up to date with my Blog, but I ain't promising a thing!

Life is Busy

2007-12-09T20:57:00.000-05:00

Life has just been too busy for me to take the time to update the blog. Between the holiday season being in full swing, working three jobs and trying to get my Christmas shopping done, I've just been way to lazy to even think about writing about my life.

So please be patient with me and hopefully after Christmas, I'll find time to write and hopefully have something interesting to say!

Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Yakety Yak

2007-10-30T21:26:00.000-04:00

I'm always hoping to have new experiences that are interesting and maybe a little out of the ordinary. Little did I know it would include the hide of an animal I never thought I would touch.

I couple of weeks ago I had some friends visiting from Canada, Will and Ed, some of my motorcycle buddies. My friend Michelle from work (Aspire) and her husband Tom also joined us for the evening along with my special friend Russ.

So we are sitting around the kitchen table drinking a little and eating pizza and wings while telling stories and just enjoying each other's company and laughing quite a bit. Somehow hunting comes up and Russ starts telling about the time he shot a Yak. I had never heard this hunting story. I'd heard about the elk in Alaska and the turkey in Texas, but a Yak? So someone say "Where did you shot it?" to which Russ replies "right between the eyes". We all start laughing until someone says, "no really, they are from Tibet, so where in the world did you shot a yak". Russ once again just matter of factly replies "In Ohio". Now we all go hysterical with laughter.

A couple of days later, Russ stops over to drop off some things he had picked up for me. I'm standing in the garage and he tells me to turn around and not look at him while he gets something else out of his truck. Oh wow, I'm thinking, he's brought me a gift. A minute later I feel something heavy over my shoulders. It's the yak skin!

So enjoy some pictures of the Ohio yak. This skin is from the shoulders back as he had the head mounted. I guess he also had the meat butchered. I'm almost afraid to asked any questions about that after the funny answers we got to the other questions about this yak! The second picture is a close-up of the tail. I have since learned that the long yak hair doesn't shed out but the shorter fur that runs along the back can be combed out and spun into a very nice wool yarn that some people claim is nicer the alpaca yarn.

Just in case you are still wondering, Russ did shoot this yak on a game farm in Ohio. He had gone there with a friend not really planning on shooting anything. The owner of the farm asked Russ if he would like to shoot the yak as it was beginning to bother the other animals and was attacking the owner's kids when they were trying to feed the other animals. Yaks are normally a pretty calm animal but this was a Yak who had gone bad.

R & R

2007-10-23T18:10:00.000-04:00

Once I get something into my head, it's hard to move it on out. Last night about 8PM I decided it was time to move my bedroom furniture to a different position. I usually have a spring/summer setting and a fall/winter setting. So last night I decide to try a whole different setting that I have used a couple times that I rather like. At 10PM I finally crawl into bed to watch my little TV that now seems a mile away. Since putting the dvr on that TV, the picture seemed so small when I was trying to read the TV Guide.

This morning I wake up and I realize I'm really stiff and sore from all the activity last night so after laying in bed for a half hour, I called into work sick. At 9AM I call into my other job to say I won't be in there either. I decided I've been working way too much, not having a full day off to myself since just about Labor Day. It's a rainy cooler day so a perfect day to get things done in the house.

First I strip the bedclothes off the bed and start washing them. I vacuum in the bedroom then decide with the new furniture arrangement I have room to move my old TV from the livingroom into the bedroom. After moving that and getting the dvr hooked up I try it out and no sound from the TV. I find the two remotes for the TV but even with new batteries they won't work. I finally get the dvr remote to control the TV and yippee, sound!

Time to do more laundry, play on the computer, chat with a friend from Germany, make a couple meatloaf to put in the freezer, make some sloppy Joe's for lunch and dinner, got through some mail, watch some TV in both the livingroom and the bedroom, depending on where I'm working, went though my closest to remove some clothes that I don't wear anymore, downloaded music from itunes, backed up all my downloads to disk and talk to Russ on the phone. Later he stops and picks me up to take me to town to pick up my car which has been in the garage since last week. It was an expensive fix, but now the car is so quiet and sit higher then it has in a while. There is one strange noise in it that I will take it back up to the garage for them to determine what it is, but that will wait until tomorrow or the next day.

Now it's getting dark and I can't believe what a full and enjoyable day I've had! I feel so relaxed and content. I think I'll be able to go back to work tomorrow with a whole new attitude! Guess a little R & R was just what the doctor ordered!!!

More Lyrics

2007-10-17T19:20:00.001-04:00

I've mentioned it before and I'm sure I'll mention it many times in the future, but I'm a person who love lyrics. Guess it's my way of enjoying a form of poetry.

Since owning an iPod, I have enjoyed more music, buying a single cut from an album I would never even considered buying. Today I bought a cut from the new Lyle Lovett album "It's not Big, it's Large", an album I learned about when reviewed on CBS Sunday Morning, one of my favorite programs where I have learned about many musical artists that I had never heard off before. John Prine being a perfect example!

So today I decide to check out this Lyle Lovett album because of a cut I heard on the CBS Morning News called "Don't Cry A Tear For Me". The lyrics touched me because I know that soon someone will be walking out of my life.

Don't Cry A Tear For Me

Go if you must go

Turn if you must turn away

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Laugh if you can smile

Run if you are walking away

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Shout if you can speak

Sing if you mention my name

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Low in the Valley

Stand in the wind and the rain

High on the mountain

See the sun shining again

Shout if you can speak

Sing when you mention my name

Don't Cry a Tear for me

So go if you must go

Turn if you must turn away

Don't Cry a Tear for me

Another obsession taken care off

2007-10-15T20:57:00.000-04:00

For about a year now, I've been doing research about flat screen TV's. Then my son bought a plasma TV for his fiance'. Next my daughter and her husband bought a LCD TV. I continued to do research, trying to decide what I really wanted, what size would work best in my livingroom, plasma or LCD, 40", smaller? Larger? Do I really want to spend the money? After all, the TV in the livingroom was working just fine and it was only a few years old, maybe 7 yrs at the most.

Then one day while I was looking for paperwork on something else, I found the paperwork on my TV and I realized my TV was at least 13 yrs old! Suddenly I didn't feel so quilty about lusting after a new TV.

Each work I would look online for the best deals at Circuit City and noticed each week they seemed to offer 18 month financing with no interest. This is the type of deal I've taken advantage of in the past very successfully so figured this was the way to go.

This Sunday for some reason, once I checked the ads, I convinced myself that it was the right day to buy the new TV. After church, I called my future daughter-in-law to see if she would be available to bring her truck to the store to pick up the TV for me. Off I was on the bike to go pick out which model I wanted and to apply for the financing. Krista got there while I was waiting for the good word from the bank that my application had been accepted. I took her over to see the two sets I was trying to decide between when the salesman walked up to me and told me that my application had been declined! I was shocked! I have an excellent credit rating. He looked sheepish, explaining it wasn't Circuit City but the Chase Bank that had rejected me. The only reason I could come up with in my mind was the slight mess I had with my taxes this past year that my "taxman" had screwed up on me but I had paid them off and the checks had cleared.

Krista and I walked out of the store, stood in the parking lot talking for a while and were just about ready to say good-bye when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but answered. "Ms Striegel? This is George the salesman at Circuit City. The bank just called us to let us know that their computer had a problem and you shouldn't have been declined. Are you still interested in the TV?"

Back into the store we went to finish the paperwork with me finally on the phone with someone from the bank to answer a few secruity questions. The last few questions would be her giving me names and I had to identify if I knew the people or not. Ok, I'm ready, what's the first name. Gerald Cook. OH SHIT, why did he have to come into this whole deal??? I told the lady at the bank, yes I knew him. "Where does he live". I then started to laugh and finally said to her, "that is my ex-husband and I don't care where he lives". She then gave me the town and yes, that is where he lives. Next name, Nicole Cook. "yes, that is my daughter but that isn't her name now, she is married now.

(At this point the rest of the blog for today was lost and I can't remember exactly what I finished the blog with but I'll try anyway)

So I finally get all the financing paperwork done, pick out the TV I wanted and start the paperwork on that. After all was taken care off, the sales guy says to me "I'm going to try to get you some money off of the TV for all we put you through today". Away he walks and of course I'm thinking I should get the TV for free, but when he returns he tells me that I'm going to get $50 off the price. I then try to give him a $15 coupon Krista had given me but he gives it back to me and pulls out a $40 coupon that he uses instead. So I got $90 off the price of the TV!

We get it home and set up and I enjoy the evening playing with the controls getting the best picture and sound for my room. I call Time Warner to take advantage of a 3 month price break on my HD DVR thinking I'll have to wait a couple days for the new cable box to arrive only to learn that my present digital DVR is HD compatiable and only needs the signal sent to it to set it up. How simple is that? Yippee.

I spend the rest of the evening seeing what channels are HD and which aren't and I'm even surprised by how many commericals are HD. As the evening progresses I'm beginning to think that the picture on the HD isn't really anything special. It was time to head to bed, goin in the bedroom and turn on the TV in there and take a look at it and think to myself, wow, what a crappy little picture! How quickly I've been spoiled!!!!!

Quotes

2007-09-16T14:25:00.000-04:00

I love learning new quotes, whether they make me laugh or make me think seriously about my life, I like learning something new. Just take a look at the sidebar of this blog to see many of my favorite quotes. Look at the inside of my motorcycle trunk and you will see some rather off-color quotes that make me laugh and make anyone who happens to read them wonder if I really mean any of them. I get some of my favorite quotes from lyrics of songs. John Prine being my favorite in recent years. Look at a book I've read and you might see lots of highlighting, especially if it's a John Irving book. (sometimes it's hard to read a borrowed book that I can't highlight!)

Today I was enjoying my normal Sunday early afternoon ritual and watching CBS Sunday Morning News, which I DVR every week so I can watch it at my leisure after church. One of the features today was about a book about 80 year old people, containing interviews about how they see life at 80. Reporter Tracy Smith was interviewing several of the famous contributors, one being Norman Lear, who among other things is famous for his TV show "All In The Family". When asked "If you could do it over again......". I loved what he had to say, and I'm slightly paraphrasing here, but basically he said "I wouldn't trade anything.... If things go right at any given moment, everything that led up to it has to have been right. All the pain, all the agony, all the bad times. If you are living in the moment and the moment is great, everything that took you there is great"

I loved that! I realized that it's what I have been trying to live in my life in the last few years. Not to have any regrets, but to embrace my life and all that it has been in order to acknowledge that all my past has brought me to where I am today, a very content person! OH sure, I still have some money worries, I've lost some friends, my health isn't what I would like it to be at this stage but all in all, I'm so very happy where I am!! So what if I have some money worries, it makes me take stock of where I am and what is really important and needed in my material life. Sure, I've moved on from some friends, but many of my old friends are still there and even more precious then they were before and new friends are always around the corner to bring a new dimension to my life. My health? Yep, lots of time I ache, but I still get up everyday and go to work, I'm still riding my motorcycle and in the grand scheme of things, my body hasn't really failed me. I can still laugh and smile, l can cry and love, I might be depressed or giddy with joy. Life is good.

So if you like quotes and wonder where they came from , I found through a google search some websites including http://www.quotationspage.com/, where you can type in a quote and hopefully find out who is attribbed the quote. Another of my favorite quotes is "Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History". I was able to locate the author as Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938), who is a pre-eminent historian of early America and the history of women and a University Professor at Harvard University.

I am going to try to become a less well behaved woman as I age!

Labor Day?

2007-09-03T10:09:00.000-04:00

Where the heck did August go????? I thought July had a nice pace, but August just flew on by.

Tomorrow my life returns to it's normal pace of working at school. I'll also start putting in "after hours" at Aspire to meet with staff who work the 2nd shift. I'm feeling tired already just thinking about it. I'm also playing for at least the rest of the month at my own church while they start the hunt for a new organist. I have already told them I will only be available for one Sunday in October.

The first weekend in October I'll be going to Nicki's for the Regan's annual Octoberfest. The second weekend I would like to go to WV for a Venturer's Ride-In but due to my taxman messing up my taxes, I have to pay some back taxes. (At least he will be paying all the penalties and late fees). The last weekend in October I'll be playing at St John's in Elma as well as the first weekend in November. I have also told them I will return for the winter as their organist, hopefully for the last time.

I started doing physical therapy in July and found out my back had several vertebrae that were not moving. After a couple sessions, one had broken loose and through treatments and exercise I'm living with a lot less pain.

The toughest part of the summer was learning that the man I have been dating/seeing since the beginning of the year, will be moving to NC in the near future as part of a job promotion. We have decided we will enjoy the time we have left together and then see what the future holds. He wants to give NC at least a year and I'm sure he will love it there. Drats, how I hate NC. OH well, I have decided I'm giving up on men (no I'm not becoming a Lesbian - no matter what my ex-husband wants to believe, asshole) but I have found I'm so content with my life now that I don't need a man to make my life complete. Oh yes, it's nice to have a warm body around from time to time, but I just don't think I need to have one around too much. I guess I always was more of a loaner then a people person.

My special friend Russ

Highlights of the summer? WOW, so many! The trip to Springfield, MO for the Women On Wheels (r) Ride-In. Seeing old friends, especially Kate and Liz Greenwood from Mulkeytown, IL and finding that travel by motorcycle with the extra wheels is still part of my life. Traveling to Nicki's for a couple concerts featuring Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price. Spending time with friends in Canton, OH to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Pastor and Kate Knauff. Spending time with Russ whenever we had the free time. Working, smiling and keeping the bills paid. And a real highlight was meeting and traveling around the area with fellow Venturers JohnJr, an American living in Switzerland, Rudy from Germany, Romek from Poland and Mike from Ireland. What a blast!

From left to right, Romek, JohnJr, Rudy and Mike at Niagara Falls.

Another fun thing was having some new neighbors move into the area. After much research and debate, it was determined that my new friends are Cooper's Hawks. I haven't seen them lately, but then I haven't been around too much either. It will be interesting to see if they return to the area next summer.

Bird's Eye View

2007-07-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

I've been a church organist since I was 13 years old or for 42 years, which ever way I say it, it's been a long time. Most churches that I've played at, I'm usually sitting up front with my back to the congregation. But when I do play at my own church, as a sub, I'm sitting upstairs and can look out over the balcony and see the people below.

It's rather interesting what you see, children playing, some people snoozing, other people paying very close attention to every word and maybe just sitting there because they were made to be there.

Today I played for a funeral of a gentleman who was 90 years old and left behind his wife of 70 years. WOW! What an accomplishment. While listening to the sermon, I was watching the people below and noticed one couple, probably in their late 50's (I'm a very poor judge of age, especially when all you really see are the tops of their heads!) When I first noticed this couple, I noticed the woman and I assume wife, had her hand on the man's knee. Later I noticed they arms entwined and they were holding hands. How sweet!

A few years ago I use to watch a couple, Bill and Buna, as they sat together in their usual pew. I would see Buna rubbing Bill's leg during the service. They were in their 70's at the time. Bill has since died and Buna lives in an assisted living home down the road a piece from the church so is still often in church. But what I remember most about watching them was how I felt like I was seeing the must intimate feelings being expressed by two people who after so many years, they were still so much in love. How Sweet, How endearing, How Romantic, How Real. I would wish for everyone such tenderness of spirit for another person in their lives. What a rare commodity and one to be treasured! OH Bill and Buna, you were truly blessed and I hope the couple I watched today have the same in their lives.

Surreal Weekend

2007-07-21T17:33:00.000-04:00

What a strange weekend this was. My ex-husband got married in town on Friday night. I had heard it was going to happen quite some time ago and laughed and smiled the rest of the day, heck, who am I kidding. I smiled and laughed the rest of the whole week!

So the time rolls around for the wedding and I'm doing just fine. My daughter and her family came in for the "festivities" and I couldn't wait to see them. Of course they got here and left right away for a family gathering. No big deal, I knew that would happen. Then Friday I started getting a bit jumpy. I couldn't figure out why when I was so happy that some other woman was going to be stuck with him. Nicki and her husband were getting ready to attend the wedding, leaving their son Sean with me. I got edgier and edgier until I thought I was going to jump out of my skin. Suddenly it came to me in a flash. I wasn't upset about the wedding, not at all. I was upset to think that my children were going to be there to witness that lying son-of-bitch make wedding vows to another woman after the many years he treated out vows like shit. How strange. I can understand that my children love their father, but by going to his wedding I still felt like they were betraying me.

OK all you armchair analyst, go ahead and say to me "get over it". Well, a person can't help their feelings can they? The minute Nicki and Rick walked out the door for the wedding, I felt 100% better. I was glad they were gone, I was glad I didn't have to see them walking around the house getting all dolled up to head out for the big occasion. How strange.

This morning we went out for breakfast and I was feeling so much different than the night before. We enjoyed our time together and then parted ways, me heading out for a ride and them to go to the mall. As it turned out, they were home before I got there. We once again said our goodbyes and they were out the door again to get ice cream then head to the reception. How strange.

I spent the afternoon having lunch with my former daughter-in-law, then going for a nice long ride heading to the windmills to get some pics of my bike then an enjoyable ride home. What a day, what a weird weekend, what an amazing life. How strange.

The Birds, or at least one bird

2007-07-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

AUGH! Do you remember the movie The Birds? It is a great Alfred Hitchcock movie, one I watched on a wintry Sunday afternoon with Cory when he was just a little kid. He says he still remembers watching it with me and how it scared him.

Well, I have a bird attacking my house, or rather attacking the bees that have been attacking this house for years. This year seemed particulary bad as far as the bee attacks on the house and so I guess the woodpecked attacking their holes has some good eats hiding out in the wood. I heard the pecking so grabbed the camera hoping to get some pics. I only got a couple and haven't made an identification yet for sure but it looks like it might be a "hairy woodpecker"

I think I hear the woodpecker out on the front of the house now so guess it's time to see if I can get more pictures.

Extra Wheels

2007-07-13T19:02:00.000-04:00

I've been riding motorcycles for a few years now (20+) and it's just a part of me. I haven't been able to imagine my life without riding for quite some time. A few years ago a friend added some extra wheels to her bike and made a trip with me and another friend to AZ for a Women On Wheels(r) Ride-In. I remember thinking I would rather give up riding then ever add wheels to any bike of mine! How cavalier of me.

Fast forward a few years and suddenly I'm having some back problems which start affecting my legs and I start feeling like maybe I shouldn't be riding. I found myself doing some rather dangerous stunts when riding so I wouldn't have to put a foot down when stopping. I was so afriad of my leg giving out on me along with the pain it caused to have to lift my leg back up to the riding position.

Then another friend called me to let me know that he no longer needed the extra wheels on his bike as his leg had healed enough after an accident that he was able to ride on two wheels again. Next thing I knew, he was bringing the kit up to attach to my bike.

I take my first ride, heading out the driveway and down the road. Within the first few hundred yards I'm thinking, "this is the biggest mistake I've ever made". Then I get to the first stop sign and I don't have to put down my feet or worry about falling over and I start thinking "hey, maybe I could get use to this". I continue around the block, pull into my yard and tell the people gathered there "well, it's not great, but it's better then sitting in the livingroom in front of the TV". That was just about a month ago and now I have 3000 miles on the bike. I did a good 900 miles getting use to it, then took off for a week trip to Springfield, MO. I'm riding every day, back and forth to work, doing grocery shopping, running errands and going for ice cream. I'm on the Road Again and I couldn't be happier. Another lesson learned. Never say Never!

Mom feel and broke her hip

2007-06-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in such a long time. So here is my list of excuses

1. Mom fell and broke her hip, had surgery, went to rehab, will come home tomorrow

2. School just ended last week with the last couple weeks being crazy

3. Extra hours at my second job with lots of meetings, training, etc.

4. Mom fell and broke her hip, had surgery, went to rehab, will come home tomorrow

5. Weather has been so hot, I'm just whipped, spending time in pool to cool off

6. Had family reunion here last weekend so had to clean up

7. Mom fell and broke her hip, had surgery, went to rehab, will come home tomorrow

8. Been to hot to do anything in a room that isn't air conditioned

9. Mom fell and broke her hip...........

Oh, OK, so I've just been lazy. Actually thought of several really good posts to make, but always think of those things while mowing the lawn and then when I get back into the house I forget it. But Mom did fall and break her hip, had surgery, went to rehab and does get to come home tomorrow and now I can see how my life is changing. I've had to take over her finances, not that she was doing a bad job, but there were things that she was paying for that she didn't need and she thought she had removed her name from things and yet things were still coming. I've taken care of that for her. Now I'm getting all her bills on direct debit or payments online. I can view her banking online now and keep track of things that way also.

Next week I'm planning on leaving for a few days and just hope that my body will allow me to do the miles that I plan to do and also hope that my mind will allow me to not think that I'm a terrible daughter for leaving my Mom home alone. Looks like a number of her friends will be checking in on her and hopefully Mom will realize that she is 83 and needs to take things a bit easy.

Next post will hopefully have some wonderful pictures from my trip.

Oh The Dilemma!

2007-06-09T08:30:00.000-04:00

I'm not the best housekeeper in the world. I guess that goes back to being spoiled rotten by my maternal grandmother who lived with us and felt she needed to earn her keep. The house was always spic and span. Funny thing is, I never saw her do any housework, it was always done!

So this morning I'm finally getting around to hanging up some clothes in my closet. Probably about 10 tops in various colors and styles. Since my divorce I have become a bit of a clothes nut especially now that I need to wear nicer clothes at my one job. Once I find a style that I like and I feel it looks good on me, I have a tendency to buy that style in many different color. I happen to look better in pastels so wear many different shades of yellow, green, blue, pink, etc. During the winter months I'm more likely to wear darker colors.

So I like to put the hangers in my tops laid out on the bed, then hang them in my closet. Today I'm looking at the clothes laying there and I begin wonder, should I have all the same styles together or the same colors together? In the past I have gone by style, all polo shirts together, all v-necks together, mock turtleneck sleeveless together, etc. Oh but wait, that seems to only cover the light weight clothing! My winter type tops are separated by color! Then I notice all my sweatshirts hung by color and long-sleeve tees by color, light first then the darker colors.

OMG, I'm so anal! Why has this become such a dilemma in my life? So here I sit writing about the dumbest thing I could possibly think of, and yet I'm also fighting the need to head into the bedroom and move all my clothes around! Oh well, this is the first weekend I have all to myself since last fall, so I guess if I want to re-organize my closets, no one can stop me!

Kanji Tattoos

2007-05-28T10:11:00.000-04:00

Sorrow

Kanji is Chinese lettering which is very popular in the tattoo world. There are some funny stories about people getting Kanji done only to find out later that the artist had messed up work and the symbols say things other then what the collector had intended.

I have a couple Kanji on my leg as part of my leg piece. I have often wondered if what I meant to say with my Kanji is what it actually says. I had done research online to fine the symbols for "family" and "joy" but when my artist did them, I was afraid he had changed them a little bit too much to be artistic rather the factual.

This past weekend I attended the Woodstock-Ulster County Fine Arts Festival and met a delightful woman from Alfred, NY who would do any Kanji symbols you wanted and frame them. I had looked at the ones she had done but didn't see anything I wanted. We got to talking and I asked her if she could show me the word "sorrow". It's a word I want tattooed and have done some research but have seen several different versions. She took a piece of rice paper and prepared her brush and started putting ink to paper as she explained the process. I was thrilled to recognize the kanji she produced knowing that I was on the right track. She then added another symbol that turned it into "sorrowing". Then she showed me what "sad" looks like. Then she wrote my name, Cindi. I asked her how much she would sell me that piece of rice paper for and after thinking she handed it to me as a gift.

My name in Kanji - Cindi

I was so happy that I got brave enough to ask her if she could read the Kanji on my leg. I lifted my shorts and she looks and smiled and said, "oh, it's says family happiness". I was so happy! I don't have to worry about it anymore, what I wanted is what I got and is recognizable to people who really do read kanji!

This artist will be at a show in Lockport next weekend and then the following weekend at the huge show in Buffalo, the Allendale Art Show. I loved her work and will try to catch up with her so I can get some of her work. She does rice paper and watercolor of koi, cranes and other beautiful Chinese imagines.

Happy or Sad Ending?

2007-05-05T07:59:00.000-04:00

I've been getting a little more reading done recently and it got me to thinking about what kind of ending I like to see in a book, which of course made me wonder what kind of ending my friends prefer.

One of my all time favorite books is "Gone With The Wind". Guess I related just a little too much with Scarlett (yes, we are both selfish bitches). What a wild romance Rhett and Scarlett had and what a strong and independent woman Scarlett could be when she set her mind to it. When a sequel came out a while ago, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it to see how the author would finish the story. The original story has Rhett walking out on Scarlett saying "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" leaving Scarlett in tears but finding a resolve to get Rhett back, that "tomorrow is another day" pledging to return to her home Tara to regain her strength. Boy, can I relate!

So the sequel comes along and has this wonderful happy ending with Rhett and Scarlett finding their way back to each other. I couldn't believe how disappointed I was with this happy ending! I felt like the power of GWTW had been stolen from me. So I guess I can say that I don't always want or like a happy ending.

On closer examination, I have decided what really sells me on a book are the characters, not the ending. If I can get totally involved with the characters, both their faults and strengths, then I guess it really doesn't matter how the book ends. Take for example one of my all time favorites, John Irving's "The World According to Garp". It has a very tragic ending and yet, there is a hope to it that I can't quite explain. You could say the same about "The Hotel New Hampshire".

I recently finished reading "Vanishing Acts" by Jody Picoult. I have enjoyed many of her books. This one had a great ending. Rather happy I guess, but also left many little loose ends. I loved the character development so when not everything was totally resolved, I realized how much I liked the ending because it allowed me to use my imagination to create more about the characters.

A friend of mine recently shared that when she reads a book, she always reads the last chapter long before she has read the rest of the book. She says she can then enjoy the story more as it develops because she already knows how the story ends so she can concentrate on how the book was written and develops. An interesting idea but not one I would do during my reading. I prefer to see if the ending has an unusual or interesting twist to it. Some books have truly surprised me. It might not have been the ending I hoped for, but still if it takes me by surprise, I'm still pleased.

Ah, I think I have another topic brewing, comparing books to their screenplays!

Happy Reading!

PS, I think I know what Widow with Dog's answer will be!

Everything Will Be Alright

2007-04-22T20:57:00.000-04:00

My Dad, back in the 40's

It's funny how sometimes things just seem so out of control. Your emotions become jumbled, an unexpected bill or two suddenly appears, someone special in your life may make a life change that affects you, who know what all, but sometimes it just seems to be a bit overwhelming.

Then all of a sudden, you know that everything will be alright. Whether you just believe that all things happen for a reason, if you think that what will be, will be or maybe you just know that what does happen is for the best in the long run.

Lately I've wondered about my life. A special man came into my life about Christmas time and things had been progressing very nicely. Suddenly out of no where, he is offered a job/promotion that would mean he will have to move out of state. WHAM! It blindsided us both. Add to that both the state and federal government deciding that I owed them taxes (I don't but I'm letting my tax man take care of that) and then getting a bill that I hadn't expected from my snowplow guy for all the additional plows he had to do this year beyond my contract limits. WOW, what the heck is going on.

Then Saturday morning I woke up and felt pretty darn good. The sun was shining, it was warm, got a new battery in the bike so I could go riding and suddenly the world looks like a brighter place. This afternoon I get a surprise phone call from my guy and he comes over to spend part of the afternoon with me and I'm feeling even better.

Tonight I was out mowing the backyard and there I found a turkey feather. Probably doesn't sound like much of an earth shattering thing to you but to me it's always a sign. For years my Dad would collect bird feathers he had found in the yard and stick them in his cap, mostly bluejay feathers. Since he has died (Jan 1999) I have taken to picking up feathers when I see them, not just because they are a beautiful sign of nature but because they remind me of Dad and I can't help by believe he's giving me a sign that everything will be alright. I'm still here watching over you and no matter what, you will be OK. When I saw that turkey feather tonight, I broke out into a huge smile and thought "Thanks Dad, I needed you to remind me that indeed I will be OK no matter what happens".

What did Dickens kill now?

2007-04-12T15:52:00.000-04:00

I have a wonderful pet, a cat that I named Dickens because she usually is a Dickens. I adopted her from the SPCA several years ago. She is a pleasure to be around and a wonderful companion. She is an excellent mouser which is fine, but she also is a good birder which does not make me happy. She is incredibly inquisitive when it comes to just about anything that moves including running to my printer to watch anything it happens to spit out at her. I've caught her up in my Christmas tree where at least she didn't do any damage. Below is a picture of her watching the turkeys in the backyard. At least she knew enough not to attack them!

The other day I walked out to the deck to bring in firewood (something I shouldn't be doing at this time of year) and I found a poor little dead chickadee which I knew had been Dicken's latest victim. Today when I walked out I didn't see the little body where I had left it but after picking up a couple pieces of wood to throw on the deck I noticed this little body laying exactly where the Chickadee had been left a few days ago. I think it's a weasel but having never seen one up close I'm not exactly sure. First off it was much smaller then I thought it should be unless baby weasels have already been born. The few weasels and minks I have seen in the past were just darting across the road in front of my car and I'm sure they were bigger then this sad little specimen. The board the critter is laying on is a 2" x 6" so that gives you an idea of it's size.

What a sad saga for a dreary day. My friend Russ is coming over soon and I'm sure he will be able to confirm what this little critter is/was. But then again he is use to stalking much bigger prey then what Dickens does.

Snarly and Snarky

2007-03-30T18:24:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday. Seems I have no problems with the day before my birthday and no problems with the day after my birthday but in recent years I seem to hate my birthday. Today was no exception. I did get to sleep in as school was closed for the children because of a staff day. I didn't have to go in until 9:30AM so got loads of sleep but then I just woke up feeling like I had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. After the staff meetings at school it was off to Aspire to work all afternoon. I was telling one of my co-workers how "pissy" I was feeling and how I just didn't care for my birthday anymore when she mentioned feeling "Snarly and Snarky". I decided that was a much better way to describe myself feelings about the day.

So why do I dislike my birthday now? Can't say I really know. Is it because I'm getting older? (I'm half way to 110 as I told some of my kindergarten kids the other day, so they decided I must be 70) or is it because of the many years I spent with the lies of what my life was. The other day I was looking for a card I thought I had kept, one that had the picture of "Cindi with an I" on it. I couldn't find it but came across the another old card I had kept that had been given to me about 5 or 6 years ago. In that card, someone proclaimed his love to me, saying that even if he didn't say it or show it the way he should, he has and always would love me. What a joke, but I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Thinking about that card today made me think about how much I want to trust people (men) but find it difficult these days. Which then reminds me how I don't trust myself in my judgement of people in general. Which comes back to my feeling bad on this day that is supposed to be such a big deal.

So I'm still feeling a bit snarly and snarky today but I do know when I wake up tomorrow I'll be back to my old self. Yuck, why did I have to mention the word old??????

Lyrics or Music, now that is the question!

2007-03-12T18:36:00.000-04:00

I have mentioned before how much I love the music of John Prine or maybe I should say that what I really love are his lyrics. I've had a number of artists whose lyrics have touched my heart and on many occassion helped me get through a rough time. Two being Carly Simon and Alanis Morissette who both write wonderful lyrics, often using an album to tell a whole story. If you look at Morissette lyrics from album to album, you see how she dealt with a lost love and the bitterness that can take place until finally she finds peace and strength, something I would like to think that I have done as well.

The Bitterness is expressed so well in "You Oughta Know" from the Jagged Little Pill Album

"Cause the love that you gave that we made

wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide, no

And everytime you speak her name

Does she know how you told me you'd hold me

Until you died, 'til you died

But you're still alive

And I'm here to remind you

of the mess you left when you went away

It's not fair to deny me

Of the cross I bear that you gave to me

You, you, you oughta know"

It was almost 10 years later on her album "So-Called Chaos" finally shows the peace she has found especially in the song "The Grudge"

"So who's it hurting now?

Who's the one that's Stuck?

Who's it torturing now, with an antique knot in her stomach

I want to be big and let go of this grudge that's grown old

All this time I've not known how to rest this bygone

I want to be soft and resolved clean of slate and released

I want to forgive for the both of us

But who's done whining now?

Who's ready to put down

This load I've carried longer than I had cared to remember"

I feel so blessed to get beyond the grudge in my life so quickly. I seldom listen to the Morissette CDs now because of the reminders of the pain and bitterness I did feel just a few years ago. I would rather listen to happier lyrics to match how my life is going now.

So how/why do you listen to music? Are you into the music and rhythms? Or are you more like me listening to the all important lyrics to see how they might reflect your life and moods?

That being said, sometimes it's just fun to listen to the music for a catchy tune and hear a lyric that just twists the words with some interesting and meaningful or perhaps just plain silliness of thought. Soon I'll write about my favorite John Prine lyrics.

Drats, the weekend is over already!

2007-03-11T21:43:00.000-04:00

Another weekend has passed by too fast. I guess I was just busy enough to make it seem to fly by.

Saturday I had my taxes done. I couldn't believe it but I moved up a tax bracket. Guess I worked just a little to hard last year. So even after paying my estimated taxes, I still owed money. But then it was sort of nice to know that my hard work has paid off.

I left the tax office and headed to Holland to visit at Roadhouse Tattoo. I hadn't been out there in some time so had some catching up to do with Tattoo Joe.

Next it was home for a short time before it was time to head to church for the Saturday evening service. When I got home from there it was time to set all the clocks ahead for Daylight savings hoping that I set up the TV in my bedroom so that it was turn on at the right time on Sunday morning to wake me up. I also spend a couple hours on the phone catching up with my friend Nancy. We talk way to seldom so always have sooooo much to catch up on with each other.

Eureka, the TV started at the proper time and it was up and ready for church Sunday morning. For some reason my left leg was killing me today whenever I got off the organ bench. I certainly hope that I don't feel that I have to return to this job next winter as the pain of playing is getting to be too much to bare. No money is worth that much pain.

Sunday afternoon was laundry, knitting, getting firewood in and a bit of relaxing including watching the new RobinHood series on BBC America. I have to agree with Nancy (Widow with Dogs) that this series does not in anyway live up to the older series "Robin of Sherwood".

Now it's time to go to bed and get ready for the week long grind. I'm hoping to get to the gym tomorrow if I can stand to fight the normal Monday night crowd. I had been trying to go on Tuesday and Thursday but I'm going to try Monday and see how that works out. I'm looking forward to getting to work at Aspire tomorrow so I can congratulate Tim for passing his CDL B road test on Friday. Tim is a fellow "Freak" (another story for another time) and was the first person I've trained at Aspire to get his CDL. I was pleased to hear he passed even though Judy had left me a voicemail telling me that Tim had failed because he had hit a telephone pole and a fire hydrant. To think that I was believing her, right up until I heard the laughter in the background! Geez, I had thought I wasn't as gulliable as I use to be!!!!!

Next Friday I have company coming, my friend from The Venturers, Will and his wife, Peggy. We are going out for dinner that night and hope to have BongoBob and his wife, Becky join us for a little Venturer bonding. Gee, I guess with all that fun that means next weekend will probably fly by too fast as well. Drats!

My Gramma Phillips

2007-03-06T20:22:00.000-05:00

35 years ago today, my Gramma Phillips died at the age of 79 after fighting cancer. Gramma was a huge influence on my life. She was a loving, hardworking women who always felt like she had to earn her keep to live with us. Grampa Phillips died one week before I was born, suddenly with little warning. My family was living in the apartment upstairs but moved to our own house the next year. When my dad learned that Gramma had basically stopped eating after we had moved to our home, he told my Mom to tell Gramma to pack her bags and move in with us. How many men have you heard about that insisted that their mother-in-law move in? From that moment on, Gramma took over most of the household "duties" so that my Mom could work up the road at the Elma Nursery. Gramma spoiled me rotten. When I got home from school my room was cleaned, my clothes put away, maybe fresh bread was baking in the oven when I walked in with homemade jelly or jam waiting to be spread on the bread as an after school snack. If there was one piece of pie left, she would save it for me. She was just that type of woman. Like I said, she spoiled me rotten. When she died, my world collapsed. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, she died the day I came home from the hospital with my first baby, Nicole Caroline, Caroline being Gramma's middle name as well. Below is a picture of Gramma that I treasure. What a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul. Even after all these years tears come to my eyes to think of how much I miss her and how I regret my kids never got to know the woman that had such a huge impact on my life. I love you Gramma!

The second picture is one of the few pictures I have of my Gramma and Granpa Phillips. I like to call this picture "The Sweethearts". I never knew Granpa but have heard many stories about him and if I'm allowed a regret in my life, it's that I never got to meet him. I've often thought about the game where you are supposed to think of a few people you would have dinner with who were famous, living or dead. I have often thought I would like to have dinner with my Granpa just so I could find out for myself if he was the same man I heard so much about. It will be 55 years ago on March 23rd that Granpa died.

I'm just plain Mad

2007-03-05T20:13:00.000-05:00

It's just one of those days. I'm mad/sad as Hell and know there's nothing I can do about it but vent through this blog. I hate it when life seems to go out of control. Even though I'm OK, a good friend is not and while I admire her strength and resolve, I'm still angry that she has to go through what she is going through.

I HATE CANCER!

Tomorrow it will be 35 years since my wonderful Maternal Gramma died of Cancer. It was also the same day I came home from the hospital with my new baby daughter. Gramma had lived with us since I was little girl and we had been very close. While I was pregnant I had the feeling that she would never hold my baby, the little girl she knew I was having while we were all saying it would be a boy. The day I went into labor, she had just undergone what was considered 4 major surgeries at the age of 79. Mom called to tell me that Gramma had survived the surgery, and I remember feeling what a relief. Within moments my water started to break. I gave birth the next morning and when Mom and Dad came to visit, I was assured that Gramma was doing just fine. Finally I was told that things weren't really going well, but that Gramma had been able to come out of her rantings of speaking to her lone gone brothers and sisters, put on her glasses, sit up in bed and look at pictures of my baby, say that she understood that I had a little girl, laid back in bed and went right back to her almost como like state. The next day I came home, then received the phone call that Gramma had died that morning.

Cancer, The Big C, the whispered word, the anger, the frustration, the secret, call it whatever you will, I hate it. It has taken my Grandmother, one of my uncles, two of my cousins at ages 25 and 51, brothers who ended up getting the same cancer, another cousin's wife, countless friends.

Tonight I got a call from a friend from work. After fighting off breast cancer about six years ago, she is now facing the fact that the cancer is now back in her body in her other breast. She has put on such a brave face for us all for so long and now that damn cancer is back in her body and she must once again put on the fight for her life. Last year she had told me she already had her funeral planned but we all had been so hopeful that she would still win the battle. After having a mammogram this morning, she knows there are seven tumors in her breast and two under her arm.

Below are two pictures of Laura from last spring when she and I went to do a little yard work at another friend's house who had been away for the winter.

Laura is always making me laugh and of course hamming it up for the camera, but now that I look at this picture it makes me think of her spirit and perhaps saying to the cancer, "kiss my ass cancer and get out of my body". Never give up the fight Laura!!!!

AMA and DVD

2007-02-26T20:19:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, it's been a while again since I posted last. Between the snow and cold temps, I have sunk into a terrible winter blahs. One kind of neat thing did happen recently. I received my Charter LIfe Membership in the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association). I can't believe that I'm coming up on 25 years as a member. Where has the time gone?

So what is going on? Work and watching the snow melt ever so slowly. But I had gotten some great new DVDs to watch during the winter time blues.

My daughter, Nicki and her family got me the complete Black Adder Collection, an English comedy with Rowan Atkinson staring as Edmund, Black Adder in different generations. Sometimes he's a complete fool, other times he the bright one but surrounded by less then intelligent cast of characters. The shows are a delight and I never tire of them.

Another British program that I enjoyed in the past was Robin of Sherwood which was shown on Showtime many years ago. After more years then I want to think about, it has finally been brought out in DVD formatted for the USA. I'm just hoping that they bring out the other two seasons of this wonderful show. Thanks to this show, I became a fan of the Irish singing group Clannard who did all the music for the show. There is also a new Robin of Sherwood series coming soon, hopefully to be seen on BBCAmerica. It will really have to be special to top this series.

Today I received my copy of Long Way Round. Ironically, another British program. Movie stars Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman decide to leave London on their BMW motorcycles and right around the world. I had never heard of this program until I read about it on my Venturers.Org online motorcycle club/message board. I believe it was shown on the Bravo channel. After learning about it, I had to have it along with the book written by Ewan and Charlie about their experiences during the trip.

Now I'm just waiting for the DVD I just heard about of a PBS concert of John Prine from the 1970's. I have ordered it and will receive it when it's released in March of this year. I can't wait! I suppose pretty soon I'll be complaining that the weather is too nice to be inside watching this great collection of DVDs.

A Double Edged Sword

2007-02-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

Blogs are wondrous things. You can pour your heart out in the words of your blog. You can spread your soul out for anyone or everyone to see. You can say things that might be better left unsaid if the wrong person reads what you have to say. You could hurt someones feelings even if a comment isn't directed to them, but they perceive it as directed at them. You can share you joys and sorrows, your highs and lows, your triumphs and failures, your fears and courage.

A few years ago I wrote my annual Christmas letter sharing the news that I was divorcing my husband of over 30 years. For some, it was the first hint that this was happening and I received many phone calls of support. For other people it was just an update on what they already knew what was happening. Only one former friend attacked me for what I wrote but after my initial reaction of sadness, I remembered that the therapist I had been seeing had told me it was a good idea to write that letter and I took comfort in the idea that I had done the right thing. Besides the former friend hadn't been much of a friend for a number of years and I had been distancing myself from her anyway.

I guess those who know me best know what an open person I am. My life is an open book. I've never been afraid to share with people what I've learned in my life including what I've learned about myself even if it isn't flattering. Some of my family has told me that what they like about me most is my honestly and openness that they know when I say something it will be blunt, to the point and maybe even brutally honest. In fact, some would say that in that aspect, I'm turning into my mother!

So at this point in my life, I find myself in an interesting position. I have some things going on that I can't talk about, especially in a blog that is open to the world to see. I have become involved with a wonderful man but I'm not at liberty to talk about him until he gets some things taken care of in his life. These were things that were started before I met him but still have an impact on our relationship. I'm learning that I have more patience then I ever would have given myself credit for. Another thing that I'm dealing with will involve my lawyer as more proceedings are started but no details can be shared here at this time.

Like I said, Blogs are wondrous things. You can share what you want or what you feel is safe. Hopefully it won't be long before I'll be sharing more.

Happy Groundhog Day!

2007-02-02T22:42:00.000-05:00

I know it's silly, but Groundhog Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I have traveled through Punxentawney, PA on several occassions just to say that I've been there. Sometimes I stop and take pictures. Here are just a few.

Groundhog .org - the Official Site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club
Dunkirk Dave's Groundhog Haven!

Ridge Lea Larry takes a break, but he'll be back next yearFor 15 years, Ridge Lea Larry, the Department of Geology's groundhog, symbol of winter's mid-point and all-around mascot dressed in custom-made threads and top hat, has lightened the dreary winter blues by predicting whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter.
But on Groundhog Day this year, the stuffed woodchuck did not see his shadow-or anything else. Depending on whom you asked, Ridge Lea Larry was either "under the weather" or on sabbatical. But it's only a temporary setback: Larry will be back on Groundhog Day, Y2K.

OH MY GOSH!

2007-01-14T14:36:00.000-05:00

WOW, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. I could make up a million excuses, but they would be lies. I think I've just been to lazy to update anything.

Things are wonderful in my life for the start of 2007. I'm working hard as usual which wears me out, but I'm usually able to catch up with things on the weekend. Things at Aspire are going well with my new boss. He has told me he wishes I would come on full time at Aspire but I have told him that it won't happen, that I'm too happy and have too much time in at school to give it up at this point. I'm also pleased to hear Don refer to me as his assistant when he is talking to other people about me. It looks like my job is changing there and I'm really quite happy with that. I've been very busy so the time just flies by. The one down side to working at Aspire is that I have become addicted to getting hot chocolate on my way to work, thanks to the many gift certificates I got as Christmas presents from Tim Hortans and Dunkin' Donuts. Lately I've been getting a bagel as well to munch on at my desk. And just in case you have ever wondered, the Dunkin' Donuts White Hot Chocolate is really good! I have also learned that if I don't get the whipped topping, the Hot Chocolate doesn't cool off as fast but then I have also learned that if it gets too cold, adding just a little water and then reheating in the microwave works just fine.

I have also returned to my winter church organist gig and even though it feels natural to be there, it's also becoming quite painful to get on and off the organ bench. I have informed the Pastor and the music and worship committee that this could be my last winter playing. I need to give it some time to see if I can work past the pain and also see how busy my weekends are going to be.

Which leads me to mention that a new man has come into my life. We are at the very beginning of getting to know each other but so far it looks like our relationship is going to be a good one. As much as we enjoy different things, we enjoy each other's company and also share many interests. I feel blessed to have a new friend to share the new year with.

El Nino weather keeps Western New York temperatures above normal and snowfall well below normal. We haven't been able to start ski club yet, while I miss the money, I don't mind getting home earlier on what would have been ski club trips. Today we are having freezing rain with much colder temperatures coming in a couple days. Tomorrow is a day off from work from all my jobs and I was looking forward to getting errands done and having lunch with Bev (who is leaving on Tuesday for the next 4 months) and Laura. But with the weather being a factor, I might just stay home and knit. I can't say that I won't mind a complete day to myself to veg, knit and watch TV.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to one and all!

Here's hoping for a wonderful, happy, healthy year.

Christmas Surprise

2006-12-25T21:13:00.000-05:00

I wrote a while ago about my "Tool of the Month" club that I had for myself. When I bought my last tools, I happened to see a nice toolbox that I thought might be a good way to take care of my tools and keep them nice and neat. So I jokingly told Nicki and Cory that I would like a tool box for Christmas.

Today the kids were home and Cory walks in with a nice big box and I thought "oh goody, I'm getting my toolbox" and sure enough, I got it. We finished opening all the gifts and I walked out into the kitchen to start working on supper when Cory walked up to me and said "come on out to the garage to open the rest of your gifts". I couldn't imagine what he was talking about until I walked out and saw too more bigger boxes sitting on the garage floor. He had bought me the complete set! Turns out if you bought the top and bottom, they would throw in the middle section for free.

Boy am I ever going to have fun now with the "tool of the month" club!

(Also Note I already have a blue hard hat)

Merry Christmas

2006-12-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

Things are just a bit hectic this week and I don't know if I'll find the time or the energy to write before Christmas arrives so here is my Christmas Greeting to all who happen to visit this blog.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years

Peace On Earth the Angels Sang

2006-12-05T17:29:00.000-05:00

Some people say that Christmas is about memories. I'm happy to have many wonderful memories of Christmas Past. One of my favorite memories is of the angel that always topped our family tree when I was a child. One of my fondest memories was the year my Dad put a little speaker in our tree and hooked it up to his reel to reel tape player. From another room we were able to speak into a microphone and talk through the tree as if we were the angel on the top of the tree. I still remember watching my little cousin looking up at the angel and thinking the angel was truly speaking to her. It's a silly little memory but I still remember the look of wonder in that little girl's eyes (sorry, but I can't remember if it was Sharon or Patty, I'm sure Sue was too big to fall for it) as she listened to the angel call her by name.

Years later when I married, my husband and I picked out a top for our first Christmas tree we picked an angel. He had grown up in a house that used a star on the top of their tree, but I really wanted to have an angel so we found a pretty little angel which topped our tree for over 30 years. When my parents stopped putting up a tree, I wanted to put up the old angel but my husband insisted that our tree be topped with the angel we had picked out. I was touched that it meant so much to him. A few years later I found out that the angel meant more to him then I did and we divorced. My first Christmas alone (well, he was still living in the house at the time) I put up the tree and after a trip over to my Mom's to get the old family angel, she moved to the top of my tree. Now each year that I place that lovely old angel on the tree, my heart melts just a little with memories of my childhood.

This year I was having a hard time with putting up any decorations. I do believe it was because I've been so busy with my two jobs and limited time to really prepare for the fast approaching holidays. The thought of putting up that big tree was rather overwhelming. Then I had a bright idea of seeing if I could put up half of the tree! Well, thinking and doing are usually pretty different for me and I wondered if I would actually do it. Today was an early dismissal from school for the younger grades, so I took the day off from Aspire to do all my runs at school. I had some time this afternoon and down to the cellar I went to see if I could indeed use just half the tree and sure enough, it looked like it would work! I put up the tree and then headed back to work for one more run. I returned home a short time later and started decorating my little tree. How nice not to have to climb on a stool to reach the top of the tree to "throw" the lights around it. Maybe now I can really start feeling the holiday spirit!

My Thanksgiving Weekend

2006-11-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

I tried to publish this yesterday but alas, it wouldn't post. So I will try to remember what I wanted to say yesterday. I'm pretty forgetful you know!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I had planned to leave on Wednesday to stay at a friends in PA that night which is about halfway to Nicki's home. At about 1pm on Wednesday, I got a call from Dana, my daughter-in-law (she will always be my daughter-in-law really, even though she and Cory are divorced) asking me if I still wanted to take Mason with me to Nicki's as Dana was very sick and decided she wasn't going out of town. So I said, Sure. I finished up work, kept Mason on the bus with me, we packed up the car and away we went. We spent the night at my friend's home then traveled on to Nicki's Thursday morning after waiting out some freezing rain.

We had a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving dinner and the rest of the weekend was a delight. On Friday Mason stayed with Uncle Rick and Sean while Nicki and I went out to lunch with friends Steven and Brian and Steven's parents, Gene and Beulah who are from Eden, NY. We had met last year so it was nice to see them again. On Saturday, Nicki, Mason and I went to "Blockheads Burrittos" for lunch, a new Mexican style restaurant in New Platz with the theme of Sock Monkeys. I admit I don't get the connection, but still fondly possess my own sock monkey from many years so. We had a great meal and then did a little grocery shopping. When we returned home, Mason went shopping with Uncle Rick so they could buy another "Monster Truck" for them to destroy as they did the day before.

Saturday night, Nicki and I went to the Bradstan in White Lake, NY to enjoy an evening of Cabaret in the Nancy LaMott Room. Playing the piano that night was Nicki's friend Steven, who also sang along with his partner, Brian, Scott who is the owner of the Bradstan, and one of the servers, Beth. The music was wonderful and we enjoyed some yummy desserts and drinks. This was my second time to enjoy music at the Bradstan and I certainly hope to enjoy many more evenings there in the future.

http://www.bradstancountryhotel.com/

Sunday morning Mason and I packed up the car and headed for home. After talking to Dana again on the cell phone, we agreed that Mason should spend Sunday night at my house because Dana was still in the contagious stages of the strep. On our way home, we meet up with my friend Bob and his friend Everett. It was such a wonderful day, they were out riding. It was the first time I got to see Bob back on his bike after his accident last fall.

After saying good bye to Bob, once again Mason were on our way towards home, getting there before 4PM. We unpacked the car, made supper, then waited for Cory and Krista to arrive home from their week long trip to AZ to visit with Cory's father. Mason was so happy to see his Daddy and vice versa. We had a nice dinner, then they got to play for a while.

Mason was a real trooper about getting up so early to get ready to go to work with me and of course it was a blast to have Mason ride on my bus for three out of four of my bus runs. But I could also tell how happy he was to see his Mom after be away from her for almost a week. Ah, another grand adventure for Mason and Me. Now I am looking forward to spending Christmas with everyone at my house! I sure hope the weather allows us to be together!

Tool Of The Month Club

2006-11-18T19:14:00.000-05:00

When I first learned that I was going to be living on my own, I decided I needed to get some tools so that I would be able to at least attempt some minor repairs myself around the house once all "his" tools had moved away. The first thing I got was a cordless screwgun/drill. The first project was putting barrel slide locks on the two garage doors that didn't lock closed. My next tool was more simple, a nice 25' ruler. Then came the rachet set. Pieces always seemed to disappear from that, but I usually found them later mixed in with Cory's tools. I believe the shop vac came next then the tools buying ended for a while. Cory was living here more and his tools moved in with him. Now Cory is living with his girlfriend and I'm assuming the tools will move again. So I have decided to start up the Tool of the Month Club once again. So last week I went out and got my first set of screwdrivers. Because it had been so long since I bought anything, I splurged and got some stuff for the air compressor also. I have picked out a tool box and then perhaps a work light on a drop cord. Then I have looked at a powerwasher at times also. And to think they say that only men enjoy looking at tools!

Did you vote?

2006-11-07T19:30:00.000-05:00

Never in my life have I felt so unsure about voting. Seemed like almost everyone running in the local elections were a bunch of liars and scoundrels. I even thought about not voting at all.

I was able to vote for the first time when I was 19, recently married and pregnant with Nicki. The voting age had just been dropped from 21 to 18 and I couldn't wait to get into the voting booth. I never missed voting after that, until last year. I had slipped into a funk and just didn't bother to vote.

Today I worked both of my jobs then rushed to the drug store to pick up some cold medicine (sniffle, sniffle) then decided to go pick up a few groceries. As I drove up to town, instead of making the left turn to head to the grocery store in Alden, I turned right and went to the polling location. We have six districts in my little town and of course I can never remember which district I am in. I walked into the room with districts one and two figuring two sounded good to me. I walked into the room, had several people smile and wave and I just said nice and loud, "I'm not sure where I should be". Within seconds I was directed to district four in the next room.

As I walked to the doorway for my district, I notice an old friend from town studying the election selections. I stopped to say "Hi" and Donna proceeded to tell me that she had been talking about me the night before to someone that knew and worked with my Dad years ago. She couldn't remember her name but when I asked her if it was someone who worked with Dad at Lusterprint, she said yes, that was it. After comparing a couple more notes, we confirmed that it was someone name Nicki that was a secretary in the late 60's.

Now here is the story. I fell in love with the name Nicole years before I was pregnant, but kept wondering what nickname would you use for that name. Then one day Dad came home from work and told us about a new secretary whose name was Mary. If I remember correctly, there already was a lady working there name Mary, so they took the 2nd Mary and called her Nicki because her last name, which I can't spell, started with Nicki. Then one day I went to work and met Nicki. She was so beautiful. Long dark hair, tall and slim. I knew right away that I would someday have a daughter called Nicki.

Flash ahead a couple years. I have my daughter, Nicki (Nicole) on March 2, 1972. The next day Dad goes to work and says to Nicki, "something nice happened to you yesterday" thinking how surprised she will be to know that I had named my daughter Nicki after her. Before he got to tell her, Nicki replied, "yes, I know, it was my birthday". Imagine our surprise to think that my daughter Nicki was born on Nicki's birthday!

So when I try to tell Donna this story at the polling place, she had already heard it the night before from Nicki! Just another small world story I guess.

While standing there talking to Donna, another lady walked in that I hadn't seen in a couple years. We quickly caught up on each other's lives.

Now it was time to get into the voting booth. When I walked up to district four's table, everyone seemed to know me, especially after Sally W, (a neighbor) mentioned how they had seen my mother earlier in the day and that she had made them all laugh. Then I was told my number was #200 and next thing I hear is that Mom was #100. Geez, what are the chances. So after we all have a bit of a chuckle, I went into the booth to vote.

I looked at all the names, remembered the ads I had heard and seen in recent weeks and started pushing the levers after making the best possible decisions I could on the information I had. I'm registered as an independent and when I was done, I noticed that I didn't follow any party lines which pleased me to know that I don't just pick a person by what party endorses them.

Out of the voting booth with another stop to talk to a gentleman I have known much of my life. We exchanged pleasantries and then it was out the door and to my car to finally head to the grocery store.

I couldn't stop smiling. I had voted in another election, hopefully picking the best people for the jobs and had seen some people that I hadn't seen in a while to catch up on the latest news. Wow, voting can be fun! Now I just have to wait until the morning to see who won their elections. I already feel like I won! I voted and visited.

A Woman Should Have......

2006-11-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Written by Pamela Redmond Satren and published in Glamour in May of 1997

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
one old love she can imagine going back to...
and one who reminds her how far she has come...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own
even if she never wants to or needs to…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a youth she's content to leave behind.…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ......
a set of screwdrivers,
A cordless drill, and
A black lace bra…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
one friend who always makes her laugh...
and one who lets her cry…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
eight matching plates,
wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored..
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
a feeling of control over her destiny…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to fall in love without losing herself...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
How to quit a job,
Break up with a lover,
And confront a friend without ruining the friendship…..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
when to try harder… and when to walk away…..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves,
The width of her hips,
or the nature of her parents…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she would and wouldn't do for love or more…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to live alone...
Even if she doesn't like it…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she can and can't accomplish in a day… a month...and a year...

Veggie Tales

2006-11-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard of Veggie Tales? It's a wonderful series of movies and programming for children with a religious/spiritual angle. Stars of the show are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber (I am not a pickle) along with others, such as Pa Grape, Jr Asparagus, Madame Blueberry, the French Peas and Mr Lund, just to name a few. Each show has a theme which is told through a funny story with a silly song performed as an intermission. I have gotten a number of these videos, dvd and cd's for my grandsons, Sean and Mason. I find it funny that they both seem to like the same silly songs with "Where's my Hairbrush" and "I Love My Lips" being amoung their very favorites.

Here is one of my favorite songs from one of the CDs. It's makes me a little teary whenever I hear it, because it touches my heart so much.

Think of me Everyday

Hold tight to what I say

And I'll be close to you

Even From far away

Know that where ever you are

It is never to far

If you think of me, i'll be with you

Going to keep warm this winter

2006-10-29T08:24:00.000-05:00

I'm a person who likes it on the cool side. Heat really bothers me. During the winter I never wear gloves and usually just layer on the sweaters and don't bother with jackets to often. I use firewood to heat my house for the most part having a fireplace insert which blows nice warm air into the livingroom. I keep the bedroom and bathroom doors closed during the day to keep the warmer air in the livingroom and hallway to keep the thermostats from kicking on the heat. When I go into my bedroom at night, sometimes it's only in the upper 40's. A couple years ago I happened to have a little heater fan move into my bedroom which I kept on a timer so my room would be heated up a bit before I went in to bed, then it would turn off a little while after I fell asleep. It worked out really well, then one night it start acting up so I turned it off and planned to replace it in the fall. When I finally got around to unplugging the little heater from the timer, I found that the timer had actaully melted! I don't know if the timer was faulty or if the heater had caused the problem. Regardless, it was rather scary. I had no idea how old this heater fan was as I got it used.

Yesterday I got out shopping and stopped at Lowes to look for a new and improved fan and came across this one. It has two speeds plus an automatic thermostat setting, it oscillates, has a timer for 1 hour up to 8 hours and even has a remote control! When I got it home and set it up I couldn't believe the heat that came from it. I did put it on for a little while last night when I went to bed, but it wasn't really that cold in the bedroom so with the remote control, I turned it off. I guess it's just a new fun tool for me to use in my home!

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-26T19:18:00.000-04:00

After two and half years of classes, study and training, training, training, my friend Jody and I became Certified 19-A Examiners in the state of New York. For those of you who don't know what that means, we can now do certain tests on bus drivers that are required annually or biennually by New York State. I won't be using these skills so much at Iroquois but it was one of the conditions of getting the job at Aspire that I would be successful in getting certified.

It was a very long day with the DMV examiner showing up about 9:45AM and not leaving us until about 2:20PM. We started by taking a 100 question test which I wasn't as prepared for as I thought I should be. We had been lead to believe that the test would be more heavy on CDL (Commerical Driver's License) questions but turned out about 1/3 of the test were 19-A related. Of course I had concentrated on the CDL part and did very well on that part. I ended up getting an 83, (80 was passing). Jody, who was sure she would blow it got an 89, Way to go Jody!

Next we each had to have a vision test then we had to drive to show our skills behind the wheel, then it was sitting in the examiner's seat and testing a fellow driver's skills. (Thanks Laura for taking all day to help us out!). We then spent time discussing our strengths and weaknesses. It really was very informative.

I'M JUST GLAD IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!

So now I can really say that I'm certifiable!

A little of this, A little of that

2006-10-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

One of my hobbies is knitting but I don't seem to have much time to get much done. During the "October Surprise Storm" I had the time and the yarn do I made myself a pair of slippers. Mason liked them so I made him a pair also. His feet are so little compared to mine, it took no time at all to finish his pair.

I like having interesting looking rocks in my garden so Cory brought me neat turtle rock that he found on one of his job sites. You can't tell from the picture, but this rock is about two feet wide and looks like it's "conjoined". I'm hoping to someday have a quiet, peaceful, tranquility garden that this rock will reside in someday.

I finally took a walk back beyond the barn to the "lower 40" the other day with Nicki and Mason. Cory had been concerned about any damage done to some of our favorite trees including two large old tulip trees and a stand of maples. When we got back there it was a relief to see they survived with no damage. It was also good to see that a buttonwood tree had also escaped the storm with no damage. This is the area that Cory has his bonfires and so when I saw this burned tree trunk and roots with the new growth of weeds it made me smile to think that even after the destruction of the storm or in this case the bonfire, there is always new growth and restored beauty.
I have a theme party every year. "David" was given to me at the first party in 2004 and he has attended each party since. After a few drinks, he usually gets dressed. Some people might think it's a waste of good vegetables but we all thought it was pretty funny. I wonder how we will abuse him next year?

A New Song I Like

2006-10-22T20:17:00.000-04:00

Ok so I'm writing twice in one day, it isn't against the law is it?????

I got around to listening to the rest of the new to me Four Bitchin' Babes CD this afternoon. As always, there seems to be words to one song that stand out to me. Here is this CD's song.

The Choice by Megon McDonough

When you gettin' married girl, when you comin' home

When you gonna wake up and get out on your own

Oh the whole world seems to push you every way but up

And tells you choices are like diamonds and only one's enough

Margie's got decisions now that she's gotta make

She really wants it all she says, but what's it gonna take

Her mother always told her it's husband or career

And then handed her a briefcase and a lace brassiere

Some women give the world babies

Some women give the world songs

All women give the world beauty

That's what rights so many wrongs

So you drive yourself to happiness then back for heaven's sake

Wearing Wonder Woman's bracelets, your initials on her cape

You're takin' on America before goin' overseas

When askin' for your place my dear just say pretty please

Some women give the world sugar

Some women give the world spice

All women give the world courage

It's what come from asking twice

Look there's someone in the picture He's wonderful He's great

He tell you not to worry He's patient he can wait

His mother send you recipes And patterns for a quilt

You mother sends you phone bills of encouragement and guilt

Oh some women give the world laughter

Some women give the world tears

All women give the world feelings

It gives meaning to the years

Oh, some women give the world babies

Some women give the world songs

All women give the world beauty

It's what rights so many wrongs

Let's talk about music

2006-10-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

I recently picked up a 30gig iPod. Of course shortly after I got my iPod, the price dropped! The biggest problem I see with the iPod is all the really neat gadgets and gizmos that go along with it. Some of them are worth the money and some aren't. One thing I just got this week is definitely worth the money, especially when I got it on sale! Below is pictured the ifunsion speaker docking system. I'm very impressed with the sound quality. Yesterday I set it up on the front porch and turned it up nice and loud for us to listen too while working in the front yard cleaning up. I bought this originally to have for traveling so I could have my tunes with me in a motel room without having to be hooked up to the iPod by earphones. Of course now that my travel season is drawing to a close, I'm sure I'll find many more uses for this great iPod accessory! I have over 2000 tunes loaded on the iPod, anything from oldies to jazz, heavy metal to folk. And of course for Mason and Sean, Veggie Tales.

Nicki was home this weekend so we were able to do one of our favorite activities - shopping at a media store. Nicki picked up a book and one CD and I walked out with 2 DVDs (The Phantom of the Opera and Hamlet) and six CDs. Since getting the iPod, I find that I am listening to a lot more music so I just couldn't resist picking up some CDs that I had wanted to add to my collection.
From left to right, starting in back, Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Take Five. I can remember trying to learn to play Take Five many years ago for an piano lesson. I never really knew much about jazz having been raised on Classical and Country music. As I "aged", I have always tried to expand my knowledge of different types of music and jazz was one that I have grown to enjoy over the years. Back when Nicki was still in college but home for the summer, we were able to see Dave Brubeck in concert and all I can say is WOW! This particular album was recorded in 1959, it's been remastered and contains his most requested music. Nicki picked up a copy for her collection also.

In the center is Four Bitchin' Babes with it's original members in a recording from 1993. This is the first time I've ever bought a CD from the Used CD portion of a store. To be honest, I haven't had the time to listen to this whole CD but I'm sure that I'll enjoy it when I do.

On the right is another jazz artist, Lee Ritenour's album Overtime. I became a Lee Ritenour fan when hearing his music played at a Media Play store. I heard the music, recognizing the classical music "Pavane". I walked out of the store with the CD and was hooked in no time at all.

The bottom CDs from left to right are The Ultimate Peter & Gordon collection, Peter, Paul & Mary Platinum Collection and The Very Best of Chad & Jeremy. It seems the older I get, the more I enjoy listening to the music I grew up with. I was a huge fan of the British groups and the harmonies of Peter & Gordan and Chad & Jeremy hold good memories for me. I was and still am a fan of folk music and what collection would be complete without Peter, Paul & Mary? I had some of their later works but wanted to get the earlier stuff.

I have updated my Wish List at Amazon.com as five of these six CDs were listed on it. I wonder how long it will take me to get the rest?

Many things to be thankful for

2006-10-18T21:55:00.000-04:00

While surviving the five days with no power and listening to talk radio with the majority of people calling and complaining, I decided I needed to write down the things I was thankful for during the recovery from the "October Surprise Storm"

Having Elma water - never had to boil it
Having natural gas so I could cook
Mason coming over and staying for a couple days
Having my new camera cell phone to use when the batteries were low in my digital camera
Being able to charge my cell phone in my car
Getting my hair cut short on Monday so it dried faster without a hairdryer
Having just enough batteries to keep the walkman going
Enough snow to use to keep food cold
Family was all safe
Extension on school tax payment
No damage to house or contends
Sunshine to warm the house
My son, Cory, works for a tree service
As bad as trees are, they could have been damaged worse
Glad I cancelled my motorcycle trip to WV I was suppose to take that weekend
Warm enough to ride motorcycle that Monday
Hearing from my sister in AZ
Phone calls from PABob
Snowday pay from school
Personal time pay from Aspire
WBEN-AM radio for keeping updated
Plenty of candles to light the house at night
Enough yarn to knit some projects, warm cozy slippers for Mason and me
Caught up on magazine reading (Flash and Skin & Ink - Tattoo magazines)
Being able to text message Nicki or Cory whenever I wanted to send updates
Name for next year's theme party - October Surprise Storm Commemorative Bonfire
Making S'mores in the fireplace for Mason and me
Plenty of food that wouldn't spoil
Thankful I prefer cooler temperatures
Seeing the first NYSEG Truck pull up in front of the house on day 5
Seeing violets and dandelions blooming in the yard when snow melted
Having a neighbor girl taking pics of my trees for a school project
Finally knowing the freezer will be cleaned out
Finally getting mail service again
Getting a package that contained a new electronic gizmo and arriving fully charged so I could play with it before power came on

I'm sure if I took more time I would come up with many more things that I was thankful for but I thought this was a pretty good list. Now that the worst is over and life has begun to return to normal, I just hope that no matter what happens in the future, I remember to always look for the positive things in life.

2006-10-17T20:36:00.000-04:00

It has been forever since I lost posted to this blog as life has been crazy. Then this past week was our "October Surprise Storm" in Western New York as the media calls it. I was without power from Thrusday evening at 11:30PM until 4:00PM on Tuesday. Lost lost almost all the food in both my freezer downstairs and the freezer upstairs in my fridge. I probably won't bother with an insurance claim as I'm sure the amount lost will be less then my deductiable anyway. This seems so minor after hearing of the deaths that are related to the storm.

I'm really too tired to write to much tonight but will share some pics including a pic taken from my bus Thursday afternoon as I drove to pick up students in Hamburg, NY. That is not the sun in the clouds but a reflection of my the light/flash in my cell phone camera.

My Heros! Of this crew, only one guy was local. They were taking a coffee break in front of my house so I took them a banana bread as a very small token of my appreciation for all their hard work and long hours. They joked that I didn't have to bribe them with food, that they planned on turning my power on anyways. They said it would take just a few minutes and they were right! I'm also thankful to the Time Warner guys working in other places that got our cable up and running just before the electric came on.

Weekend Visitors

2006-10-01T20:39:00.000-04:00

I had some visitors this weekend. Mason was here Friday night and Saturday with his Dad. We just hung out around the house Friday night. Saturday morning Mason went to work with his Daddy then came home to play for a while before he and I went to a pumpkin patch party at the home of our friends, Dave, Laura and Clate Williams. After enjoying sitting around the campfire and having hamburgers and hotdogs it was time for everyone to enter the huge pumpkin patch to claim your favorite pumpkin. You just stood by your pumpkin until Dave came to cut the vines away.

On Sunday while watching TV I notice there was something in the doublehung window behind the TV. Right away I recognized it as a bat so naturally I took pictures. There is a small opening where he was able to get in. He moved around quite a bit during the day then sometime around 7PM he flew out to get his evening fill of bugs. I tried to close up the storm window better but wasn't successful. It will be interesting to see if he returns in the morning or if he will head back to the barn or behind the basketball backboard where I know there are a number of bats. I also believe they are living above the garage ceiling as there sometimes are droppings in the middle of the garage floor which I now know are bat droppings.

Let's Discuss Books

2006-09-30T07:54:00.000-04:00

I have a little down time in between bus routes and so I'm getting some reading done. I'm ashamed to say it took me about six months to read a very entertaining book by Isabelle Allende called "Zorro". It was very good but I just didn't seem to sit and read much, and basically not at all during the summer. When I went in for jury duty a couple of weeks ago, I had just finished "Zorro" so took along the book "The Falls" by Joyce Carol Oates. WOW! what a great book. JCO is from the western New York area so many of her books take place in this area, with liberal use of artistic licenses moving towns to areas that suit her story a bit better. I just find it fun being able to picture the locations in her novels.

"The Falls" begins in the early 1950's and ends in the late 1970's. Her characters are always so complex, some lovable, some not so nice but even when you think some characters are completely nuts, you still care about them. This book includes the story of "Love Canal" and the ramifications of it, even if they didn't live there. The main thing I have learned is that JCO's writing isn't always happy. She will take twists and turns that make me sad and then I worry if it will be resolved in the end. Of course my favorite part of reading her is that Nicki reads her also and then we can discuss the book later. I'll be borrowing Nicki's copy of "Blonde" when I'm visiting next week. It's the story of Marilyn Monroe.

My favorite author is John Irving. I have read all his books, some of them three times. My favorites are "Hotel New Hampshire", "The World According to Garp" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany". Here are copies of them. I especially like the small hardback version of Garp because of the picture of JI on the cover.

I could go on for hours talking about Irving books. Let me just say that his characters are incredible. I fall in love with all of them, caring about them and sometimes having my heart broken when their lives fall apart. The main thing about JI is that no matter how tough things get in his stories, you can always see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how bad things get, they will get better. This is something I have had to accept in my life and I'm sure that what I have read in these books has taught me to look forward not backward.

Nicki says that sometimes she doesn't like to borrow my copies of JI's books because of all the highlighting I've done in them. She tries not to think about why a phrase moved me. I will admit, some of them are pretty painful. Heck, sometimes I reread a book and wonder myself where I was in my head when I highlighted something!

This is my shelf with most of my JI books. I started out with paperback and have added hardback books when I had the money.

Here is my "library" and part of my skunk collection. I love to own my books. I cannot bring myself to borrow books from the Library. I want to own them so I can take as much time or a little time reading as time allows. I also like to write in my books. When taking world literature from Dan Scanlon in high school, he taught me how to fill the margins with comments and to highlight phrases that struck me as important. When you read my JI books, you can tell how many times I have read them as I use a different color highlighter every time I read them. Each time I read them I get something different out of them because of where I am in my life.

JI's last book was called "Until I Find You" which has a main character of a church organist how has a full body suit of tattoos. I had always wanted to honor my love of JI with a tattoo based on his books. For years I struggled with what to get. When this book came out, I took one look at the cover and there it was! As with anything JI, I took this to mean that I'm still looking for myself as well as that special someone that I can have in my life that will love and understand me, accepting me for who I am and not trying to mold me into who they think I should be to suit their needs. When you come right down to it, that was something I had to work out for myself, accepting myself for who I am and loving myself. I think that I can honestly say that I'm finally getting to that point in my life. As I've said before "What a long strange journey it has been" phrased another way "WOW! What a ride it's been!"

I have nothing to say

2006-09-22T18:41:00.000-04:00

Oh you! Stop laughing. I know you all think I always have something to say, but I'm just tired and want to have some supper! Hey, I told you to stop laughing.

Jury Duty

2006-09-20T17:34:00.000-04:00

I've been called for Jury Duty every so many years ever since the early 1970's. At first I was able to get out of it because "I am a woman" and a new mother so didn't have to serve. Then the kids got older and being a woman wasn't an excuse any longer and I thought maybe serving on a jury would be interesting. Everytime I was called, I never had to appear as my number was too high so I was never needed. There was the one time I had to appear in Marilla Town Court for a criminal matter, but with only a 6 person jury needed, I didn't make the cut. I was called once for supreme court which I think would have been really interesting, but ended up never having to show up then either. So the other day I pick up my mail and there is another notice to appear and this time my number is pretty low. Monday I drove into downtown Buffalo, parked in a parking ramp and walked over to the court which wasn't open yet. It really didn't take me long to get into the city at all. I guess that also speaks to how few people head into Buffalo these days. First they called people for civil court and I wasn't selected. Then they called for a criminal trial and I wasn't called. Another criminal trial was called for Judge Penny Wolfgang and I thought, now there's a trial I would like to see as I have seen Judge Wolfgang on TV a number of times, but I wasn't called. Then another couple of groups were called and they were dismissed. We should have been the next group, but we were told to go to lunch and be back by 1:45PM. I stayed there reading my book and listening to music. Everyone came back and then suddenly they called another group. I figured my time was over, it was time to head for home. 36 of us gathered in one room and we were told we were to report the next day at 9AM as Judge Wolfgang needed more jurors. I can't say I was disappointed, maybe I would finally get to serve and in a court that should be interesting. The next day our group of 36 showed up again along with some of the jurors chosen the day before. About 10AM they made the announcement that we could go home as the defendent has taken a plea deal so they no longer needed us. I called Bev and we went to lunch and a few minutes of shopping then I went back to work at school. That night I had the news on and heard a report about a criminal taking a plea deal early that morning and realized it was the case I would have been going too. Turned out to be a 1st degree murder case of a man who broke into an older lady's home and killed her with a screwdriver and hammer. WOW, what a case that could have been! Here is the link to an article in the Buffalo News about the case http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20060920/9038646.asp

So now I don't have to serve for another 8 years. At least I came close this time.

Getting Ready for Winter

2006-09-17T19:50:00.000-04:00

I hate to think about it but winter will be here before you know it. The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a harsh and below normal cold winter. Do we believe them? I guess we will just deal with whatever comes our way. I am starting to get ready though because Cory and Krista split some firewood today. I called the young man that usually stacks for me but this year he doesn't have time to help me out. So tonight I went out and moved a little bit of it. Between my back arthritis and sore legs, I figure it should take me about 6 months to move all the wood. Hmm, that's all fall and winter! Looks like I'll be moving all this wood twice, once into semi-neat piles and then into the house! This is five trailer loads in the backyard.

This is my pathetic start at stacking the wood. As you can see, Isabeau is NO help at all. Little did I know she was going to take a supervisory position.

Have I changed?

2006-09-16T19:24:00.000-04:00

Today I drove 31 kids, boys and girls to a cross country invitational meet. I knew it was going to be a fairly long day so I had my lunch, a book to finish reading plus a new book to start, my iPod and my knitting.

I knew both the male coaches, one being a neighbor and the other had been my son's special ed teacher back when Cory was in 8th grade. Over the years I had taken this coach and his team to out of town/overnight track meets so I've known Tom for a quite a while. Today after everyone else got off the bus, Tom says to me, "you know, you just never change". I laughed and said, "oh yes, I've changed a lot". With that Tom was off the bus and on to his coaching duties.

Now of course, you know me, I got thinking about Tom's comment and how I think I've changed. And I have come to this conclusion. I'm a much happier person then what I use to be. This is sort of an odd thing to say really, but in many ways I find I'm a much more serious person and I feel like I don't laugh as much as I use to and yet I truly do believe I'm a happier person and more content with my life.

The other night I was sitting on the couch watching TV and I started thinking how I was sort of lonely. Then I thought back on my past and remembered all the nights I was lonely. I suddenly realized that yes, I'm lonely some nights but what I find now is that at least I'm not miserable! I also say there is a big difference between being alone and being lonely. Most nights I'm just alone, it's just an occasional night that I'm lonely and I know that emotion is just a normal thing and nothing to worry about.

So have I changed? Maybe not to most people, but I know myself that I have changed and I like the change. More serious? More responsible? Better suited to face life's challenges? More determined? More tired? Much more Happy? Yep, I'm that and much more. I'm well on my way to becoming the person I never had the chance to be. I even think that I've earned the tattoo I've been planning for the last couple years, I think I'm finally ready!!

(someday, maybe I'll explain why the mermaid is such an important image to me)

Four Bitchin' Babes

2006-09-14T19:03:00.000-04:00

I'm just playing with the new beta version of Blogger and finally I'm able to load the picture from the Four Bitchin' Babes CD that I wrote about a while ago. I can't wait to get more of their CDs. I love how they use the cover art so much like one of the Beatles' albums. Another of the CDs is called Gabby Road and looks like the cover from Abby Road. I still highly recommend their music!

Pictures loaded at Last!

2006-09-14T18:29:00.000-04:00

I did go on the ride Sunday to Kinusa Dam in PA. I met up with the WOW group and told them if I just disappeared, not to worry, I was just heading out on my own. I didn't care for the route they had picked and then the leader didn't seem to know where they were going, so when they pulled off the road, I passed them, went up to a scenic overlook I knew about just a few hundred yards up the road and let them turn around and leave. I ended up meeting a sweetest old couple sitting in their car eating breakfast. Turns out she had been a widow for 27 yrs when they started dating. This scenic overlook was where she liked to pray, so he started going there with her. He proposed to her there and they were married there and now eat breakfast there 3 or 4 times a week.

After leaving them, I headed to my more scenic route to Kinsua Dam. What a beautiful ride. The leaves haven't changed yet so traffic was very light. I reached the first dam overlook, stopped to take pictures, called Nicki to talk for a while, watched the WOW group ride by, then finally got back on the bike and headed down to the next overlook right next to the dam. Didn't find the WOW group there but did talk to a couple guys on bikes from OH. Next it was down to the parking area below the dam, no WOW group there either. I guess their idea of riding someplace is to ride by it and look without stopping. Oh well, their lose.

You can't get close to the bottom of the dam any longer, I assume because of security since 911. I decided to head back the same way I traveled down to Kinsua so I could take the pic below which is along RT 59, the route the dam is on. I took about 3 dozen pics during this stop. This one I'm going to put in my Venturer's calender contest.
These other pics were ones I wanted to post with an earlier post. Below is Cory and Mason on the bulldozer
The pool all winterized. I heard today that the farmers almanac is saying it's going to be a harsh and cold winter.
This is my new iPod player thingie in my car. I'll be trying it out in my bus also.
Cory's bonfire. The pic doesn't really show the scope of this fire, it's probably 20 feet across

Life is Amazing

2006-09-13T20:30:00.000-04:00

I am constantly amazed with life. When I have thought that life was at it's darkest, suddenly the sun breaks through and I can see the light. Of course the darkest days were when I was adjusting to the thought of being divorced. Since I got over those fears, most of my dark clouds seemed to be about money and yet like the old saying, when a door closes, someone opens a window. Whether you think it's God or just the fates, I have been so blessed in the last couple of years.

A couple of years ago when I really didn't know how I was going to make it, a job jumped right into my lap and I became the secretary at the church where I play the organ during the winter. Besides the added money, it was just good for me to be busy with a new job. I had a lot to learn but I also had a lot to offer the job.

Things went pretty good for a while then once again my finances became a little scary. I didn't know what I was going to do about some bills when suddenly I get a phone call from a guy I know telling me about a job opening that I might want to look into. Sure enough, about a month later I got my job at Aspire of WNY. This job was really a step up for me as far a money but also was a management position.

Soon the job at church was beginning to suffer so in fairness to the church and to myself, I gave that job up. Then the job of head bus driver was coming up. I applied for the job and with my added skills that I had gained at Aspire, I thought I had a pretty good shot at it. I had a good interview then it was going to be a few weeks before a choice was announced. I start crunching numbers and looking at my lifestyle and I realized that I didn't want to be head bus driver. I would be giving up too much that I had worked for in my life, believe if or not. The day before the decision was going to be made, I sent a letter saying without a better rate of pay, I was no longer interested in the position. I had a couple phone calls after that and it became pretty clear that more money would not be offered. These phone calls also made it fairly clear that I was going to be offered the job. It was almost a relief to not have to think about learning a new job.

Then another phone call came from my boss from my Aspire job. He was resigning his position at Aspire to move into a position with a school district. Suddenly I wondered if I was still needed at Aspire. A few days later I happened to stop over to the office (I had been off there all week because of school opening). I was standing outside talking to Marge, the office manager, when Percy, the head of our building stuck his head out the door asking me to step into his office for a talk. Within a few minutes I was seated at the table in Percy's office and we were talking about my future with Aspire. I guess everyone was wondering if I knew that Jim was going to resign, which of course I didn't know, but also wasn't surprised. After talking to Percy for a while, we agreed to meet on Monday to discuss my future at Aspire. On Monday when we finally sat down and talked, I was offered to expand my hours to 20 per week spread out over 5 days. So far this is temporary until a new fleet safety manager is hired but it also could become permanent. So this means I won't be able to do any mid day runs at school, but Aspire pays me well enough to make up for that. At school I was offered and accepted a temporary late run while it's regular driver recovers from surgery, probably after November. It happens to be a very long run, many times taking over 2 hours to complete so this makes up for me losing extra runs. So at the present, I'm working about 50 hours per week and I'm still planning on doing my organist gig this winter.

So once again my finances are looking a bit brighter. I'm putting extra money into my motorcycle payments with plans of paying off the bike at least four months early. Then it's time to increase my payments on my home equity and start saving up for a new roof. I'm still conflicted about whether to take advantage of the tax incentive for the new windows this year or just save up to have more of a cushion in my bank account. I have also started a 403(B) account at Aspire which I think shows my committment to continue working there.

It's rather difficult for me to think back a couple of years when I didn't know if I was going to make it to finding out I can get by without out of a lot of things that I thought were important and to learn what is truly important and of course the most important things in life have no cost.

Yes indeed, life is truly amazing.

Weekend

2006-09-10T08:42:00.000-04:00

The more I work, the more I want to just veg on weekends. But the more I work, the more I need to get things done around the house on weekends!

With the late run I'm doing at school this year for the next three months at least, I'm now working from 6:30AM until about 6:30PM and if I get more hours at Aspire, that will be 12 hour days, five days a week. At my age, I wonder how long I can keep it up! It sure does feel good to be back to work at school and driving. I have great routes this year again including my new afternoon primary run which has a very special student on it, namely my grandson Mason!

So you can see I've got a pretty wild schedule. Friday afternoon I was able to spend some time with my friend Bev as we went shopping at BJ's and then out to lunch for Chinese buffet, yummy. I did find a pretty neat gadget for my Ipod that I just hook up to my cigarette lighter, then I can simply place the iPod in it, tune the FM station in that I've selected on my iPod and we have tunes. This gizmo also charges the iPod so will be great for long trips and short trips as well.

Mason came over Friday as usual to spend the night with his Dad and me. We had pizza and wings for dinner. I had been mowing the lawn, a 3-4 hour project if I do part of my Mom's lawn and also I keep adding more lawn now that I have a repaired and fully functional riding mower. Mason fell asleep while waiting for the pizza/wings to be delivered. Friday was his first full day of school so he was pretty tuckered out.

Saturday morning, Cory had to go to work for a couple hours. Mason decided he just wanted Fruit Loops for breakfast so I didn't have to do the blueberry pancake thing as usual. I was trying to get some laundry done and cutting up a pineapple and make a banana bread to use up some old over-ripe bananas. Mason decided he would like to help, adding ingredients and peeling the bananas. Only a half of a banana ended up on the floor, but now that my house is remodeled, the floor is much safer to eat off, so we just washed the banana off. Mason thought that was pretty funny, I just thought it was practical. Cory called and asked if I would bring Mason over to his jobsite so they could spend more time together. After a quick drive, Mason was up in a bulldozer riding around with Dad and I went home to get more mowing done.

Saturday night was Cory's big annual bonfire. After some sprinkles and light showers the evening cleared but was fairly cold and damp. This was the first time I've been home for one of Cory's big fires and I even walked back to take some pics. I was in bed by midnight with plans of riding today with the local Women On Wheels (r) chapter. I'm still debating if I want to do that or just spend more time at home mowing and getting a few more things done around the house. It's a cloudy morning and rather cool so I'm not really in the mood for a big ride. Another thought is to just meet up with the group at their first stop and just riding to Springville with them to meet up with other members of the group. Then I could head home and get more done. This would be a two hour ride at least. Of course the big decision is always should I take the FJR or the Venture. I spent a number of hours loading another 600 tunes on my iPod yesterday so I know I have more good music to listen to no matter what I decide.

The pool is closed now so it's really beginning to feel and look like fall. The nights are getting darker so much quicker now. Cory is starting to cut up the firewood and will be splitting it soon.

Once again I'm not able to upload the pics. I'll try to post them later. Drats!

I'm Tired

2006-09-04T07:38:00.000-04:00

I'm just a little too tired to update the blog. Hopefully this weekend I'll have time. I'm back to work with school starting on Wednesday with a very hectic schedule and also doing a late run which turns out to pay great but it really does go late. Also some very interesting things happening at Aspire after talking to my boss today when I stopped in for a few minutes. We are meeting on Monday to talk about my future at Aspire. It looks like maybe I'll be getting busier. Watch this space for more rambling.

Don't feel like Writing, HoHum

2006-09-03T10:03:00.000-04:00

Between the weather and my aching back, I haven't felt like writing much lately. But at least this morning my back if finally feeling like it's really mending and the sky is a bit brighter today. I haven't had so many days to just veg in such a long time. I'm beginning to think that veggie isn't very good for me. I finished up my last knitting project, the lawn is all mowed, the house is semi-clean and don't have that much laundry to do, TV is mostly repeats and made all my phone calls. What is a girl to do?

Tuesday life should return to a more normal pace with school starting this week. Tuesday will be safety meetings at school and driving to get familiar with new routes. This past week I did a couple of nights work with Kindergarten orientation at two of our three primary schools. This year was lots of fun thanks to my grandson Mason attending school this year. I'm even going to be his afternoon bus driver! I can't wait to be able to see him just about every day. Here is a picture of Mason with his Mom and Dad at orientation. Cory and Mason's Mom are divorced but get along pretty well so they can share in these special times together as a family. I also was able to give Mason his first ride on a school bus. I made them sit in the front seat, more or less as a joke as Cory spent so much time in the front seat of his bus, being the trouble maker that he was.

Next week I will return to my other job at Aspire of WNY. This past Wednesday I learned that my boss had quit his job to move on to a new job at Williamsville Central School. So now I'm wondering what will happen for me at Aspire. Now that Jim is gone, will they decide I'm not needed or will they decide I can get more hours now, would they even consider me for the job as Safety Manager? Once again my options seem to be staring me straight in the face and asking me, "Ok, how are you going to handle what life is throwing at you now?" Should I reconsider taking the head bus driver job at school instead? What I have decided for now it just to take a wait and see attitude and let what happens, happen. Some people might even say that I'm learning patience with this attitude. Nah, I'm just as anxious as ever to see what life is going to hand me next!

Sean's Theraputic Horseback Riding Lessons

2006-08-31T18:31:00.000-04:00

Sean all ready for his horseback riding lesson

Sean going to get his horse Lilly for his riding lesson

Today I was suppose to head down to Nicki's and her family for a few days but after taking a SCIP-R (Strategies for Crisis Intervention and Prevention-Revised) for four days and pulling some muscles in my lower back, I thought maybe I shouldn't get on one of the bikes or even the car to maybe put even more strain on my injury. It was a horrible decision to make to stay home as I really wanted to get to Nicki's in time to go with them to watch Sean's theraputic horse back riding lesson. I guess it was a good decision as this afternoon I'm very stiff, but not so sore. Then Nicki sent me some pictures of Sean taking his lessons and in many ways it made me even sadder not to be there to actually share in the experience but also made me happy that I could see Sean in action with his horse "Lilly". Hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures today so you can share in the joy that I felt when looking at them.

This picture has nothing to do with his riding class, but this was Sean's graduation day in June of 2006

A Thought about Women

2006-08-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

THIS SAYS IT ALL:

Time passes.

Life happens.

Distance separates.

Children grow up.

Jobs come and go.

Love waxes and wanes.

Men don't do what they're supposed to do.

Hearts break.

Parents die.

Colleagues forget favors.

Careers end.

BUT......... Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you.
A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach.
When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you. Or come in and carry you out. Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family, all bless our life!
The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still.

Old Friends

2006-08-26T19:44:00.000-04:00

Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver and the other's Gold.

Those are the words of a sing we use to sing in Girl Scouts many years ago. Many times I think of those words when I think about the friends I have in my life. Those who I've known for years and years and those that I've just met within the last couple of years. I guess I could go as far as saying those strangers that I haven't met yet who will become friends.

Today I spent some time with a Golden Friend, Nancy. She needed a ride to pick up her van which had had some repairs made on it. Seeing it was a Saturday morning we then went out for breakfast.

Nancy and I have been friends for almost as long as we can remember. She is a couple years younger then me and I think because of that, I was always the older kid that had to take care of things. Of course the thing we still laugh about is when Nancy turned five and there was going to be a little party with her family. I decided that seeing I wasn't invited, that I would "steal" Nancy and take her home with me. I lived about a half a mile from Nancy's house which was located at the former "Elma Nursery" where my Mom worked for Nancy's grandfather who owned the nursery. (a little sidebar, my Mom and Nancy's Dad rode the same school bus back in the 1930's)

So Nancy agrees to be "stolen" by me, the big Seven year old. We walked down the road towards my house, very carefully of course as I was a very responsible seven year old and I wasn't going to let anything happen to Nancy. I don't remember how long it took for us to make our way to my house, but then of course we couldn't go into the house! So back into the woods we went to sit and wait to be found out. Little did we know that one of the neighbors had ratted us out having observed us walking down the road. (I sure hope she noticed how cautious we were). As we sat in the woods we could see just about everyone from the nursery walking through the field looking for us. What's funny is I don't remember actually being found, but I know it happened. Nancy made it safely back to her home and the family birthday party. I was told by my parents that I had to apoligized to Eddie and Grace (Nancy's parents) and as little as I remember of that, Nancy remembers that I never could bring myself to say the words. I was allowed to go back and play there again so I guess all was forgiven anyway. Hmm, but now that I think of it, I wonder if Grace kept a closer eye on us after that?

So now all these years later, Nancy and I are still having fun together. There have been years that we didn't see each other much as we went on with our individual lives and even though I live just around the corner from where I grew up and Nancy now lives in her grandparents home on the old Elma Nursery grounds, we could go months and months without talking. But whenever we did get togehter, we would just take up where we left off the last time. It's good to have friends like that! As John Prine would say "that's golden".

There was supposed to be a picture to go with this latest rant, but I couldn't get it to load. I'll keep trying.

My Grandson Sean

2006-08-23T07:27:00.000-04:00

I saw my grandson, Sean, a couple weekends ago. He lives with his Mom and Dad about 300 miles from here so I don't get to see him as much as I would like.

Sean is a special child, born with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. Here is a website that Nicki added a page to about Sean about 8 yrs ago.
RTS - Our Pages - Sean Patrick Regan - Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome
Here is a link that explains about RubinStein-Taybi Syndrome
Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome Information on Healthline

As you can see, it's a complex syndrome and Sean has most of the things you just read about. He is so incrediably musical which I guess he just couldn't help with the all music in his family! He also loves playing basketball and has been taking theraputic horseback riding lessons. I hope to see him taking part in this activity someday.

So here are some pics of him from this year. He turned 12 in June. Oh My! Where has the time gone!

Sean relaxing with Dad.

UnAnniversary

2006-08-21T07:08:00.000-04:00

If I was still married, today would be my 35th wedding anniversary. Now I call it my "UnAnniversary".

What a long strange journey it has been! I married when I was 19 yrs old to the first guy who asked me to marry him. Was this a mistake? Was I just young and stupid? Was I just idealistic thinking that everything would be fine forever? Who knows? I sure as heck don't know.

For many years I thought I had a great marriage, sure there were ups and downs but I thought we always worked everything out and that as life went on things would get better. I was wrong. Yes, I had a pretty good life, but it turns out much of it was a lie. He was lying to me and I was lying to myself about how things were really going.

Shortly after our 32nd anniversary, I finally asked him the question I had been afriad to ask for so long. I simply said to him "don't you love me" and he looked at me and finally told me the truth "no and I haven't for the last 22 years". My life crumbled and within one month of severe depression and loosing 30 lbs. I finally started getting myself together with a little help of my friends (both flesh and blood friends and little blue pills in a little bottle). I got myself a good lawyer, learned what I was going to face in the next few months, started listening to my friends who kept telling me that I was going go to be OK, I joined the gym and the most amazing things happened!

I was OK. I found out I just needed to spread my wings and soar! I had never lived on my own and then I found out I liked it! I started changing the house so that it truely become MY HOME!

My divorce was granted on April 21, 2004. (Would you believe he had called me on April 21, 1971 to ask me out for the first time?) I walked out of court with my lawyer, got to the parking ramp where I had parked my car on the top floor. It was the only car there and I just walked around for a while making a phone call to a friend in PA. I stood there overlooking the Niagara River on the most beautiful spring day. I knew that I finally was on my own and I had to make the most of it to prove to myself and to everyone that I could make it. I wasn't going to let the lies and deceit that had filled my life for so many years stop me for making the rest of my life the best that it could be.

Yes, it's been a long and strange journey, but one that I wouldn't give up. Everything in my past is what has made me what and who I am today. I'm stronger then I ever imagined. I have better friends then I had ever given them credit. Sure, sometimes I have my weak moments, ones that I'm not proud off and some that just make me mad at myself for letting myself fall apart. But there are many many more moments that I'm proud off! I love my life now. I can finally be who I really am, I can make my own decisions and live with the results whether they are good or bad.

2006-08-16T20:19:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since my last update. I was away for the weekend, going to my daughter's on Saturday to attend the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Freedom of Speech Tour at Bethel Woods Arts Center. It was a beautiful night and one I won't forget for a long time. On Monday Nicki came home with me so she could see some remodeling I had done to the house since she was here last and also to catch up with friends. Tuesday I went to work where she joined me a few hours later so we could take her bike to have some maintence done on it then out to lunch where we had a fabulous meal at one of our favorite places, Tantalus, in East Aurora. If you like something just a bit different or maybe more upscale, this is the place to eat.

The pictures are all from my new cell phone. First pic is just a little bit of the crowd (18,000) at the CSNY concert. We were too far from the stage to really get any pictures of the band.

This is a picture of Nicki's and my bikes when we took our first break from our ride home. This was the first time that we had ridden together in three years. I hope it isn't that long before we get the chance to ride together again!

This is my friend Bob whom we stopped to see on our way home. Bob and I are both members of the Venturers. His picture is in an earlier part of the blog. He was in an accident last fall on his motorcycle and is still recovering after several surgeries on his leg. Hopefully he will be on the road again very soon!

An amazing discovery!

2006-08-11T08:20:00.000-04:00

The other day I was searching through Amazon.com looking for an artist I had just heard played on the folk station on aol radio. It was a song by Christine Lavin called "What was I Thinking?" from her album "Sometimes Mother Really Knows Best". The song was hilarious and I thought I just might want to get some of her albums. Turns out most of recording of live performances and sounded very funny as she makes social commentaries through her songs. While searching through her recordings, a group called Four Bitchin' Babes was recommended, so I started looking at their stuff as well. I accindently click on "one click shopping" and within a few minutes I found out I had ordered one of their albums. At first I tried to find out how to cancel the order, then figured, what the heck, maybe this is something I'll enjoy. I'm sitting here listening to it now and IT'S GREAT!!!!!! With songs like Viagra In the Water, Toe to Toe with The HMO, and Beautiful Fool. But the words on the song "If I Were Brave" really caught my eye and heart.

What would I do if I knew

that I could not fail?

If I believe would the wind

always fill up my sail?

How far would I go, what could I achieve

Trusting the hero in me?

If I were brave I'd walk the razor's edge

Where fools and dreamers dare to tread

And never lose faith

even when losing my way

What step would I take today if I were brave?

What if we're all meant to do

what we secretly dream?

What would you ask if you knew

you could have anything?

LIke the mighty oak sleeps

in the heart of a seed

Are there miracles in you and me?

If I were brave.........

If I refused to listen to the voice of fear

Woud the voice of courage

whisper in my ear?

What would I do today if I were brave?

The songs on this album are funny or thoughtful, crazy and loving. I think Four Bitchin' Babes just won another fan! Check out their website

Babes Home Page

What a nice day

2006-08-10T22:26:00.000-04:00

I slept in this morning! YIPPEE!!! Seems like forever since I was able to do that but no work today! I did meet a fellow Venturer from one of my online motorcycle club today. Will Burke from North Bay, Ontario was traveling to Ohio for a few days with his friend George. After spending the night in Fort Erie, they crossed the Peace Bridge and headed down the thruway. I met them later at the Angola Service area where we enjoyed breakfast together. Will and I had written e-mails back and forth and chatted in the chat room in the Venturer's website so it was really like meeting an old friend.

It was also fun today to play with my new iPod that I have found can be played through my system on my Venture. I had just figured out how to shuffle within a playlist which made the music all the more enjoyable. I also finally figure out how to load photos to the iPod.

On my way home from meeting up with Will and George I stopped and picked up a new cell phone. I've spend hours downloading tunes that I like to have for different people. This new phone is also a camera phone so I plan to take pics of my friends to use as wallpaper for their listings.

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!

2006-08-09T12:25:00.000-04:00

I have two very important men in my life, well, I guess I should call them boys. My two Grandsons, Sean and Mason. I don't get to see Sean as often as I would like but will see him this week so I'll post updated pictures of him next week. Mason comes to visit every weekend to stay with his Daddy, my son Cory. With the nice weather, Mason and I have been able to spend some time in the pool. Now that it's getting late in the season and fall seems to be showing up a little with cooler evening, I know our pool days are winding down.

It's getting late, but.......

2006-08-05T23:14:00.000-04:00

It's getting late, I'm tired and want to be in bed sleeping but I got a new toy today and I'm having way too much fun with it. I got further into the 21st century and bought an iPod. I'm leaving for a couple days tomorrow and want to have some of my favorite music to listen too. Music always makes the trip go faster! Hmm, music, sounds like another blog topic for the future.

Tattoo Pics

2006-08-05T21:20:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pics of some of my tats. I'll post more some other day. Sorry about the poor quality of the dragon print.

Tattoos

2006-08-05T10:47:00.000-04:00

I have many passions in my life, just one is tattoos. I guess I should explain that for years I thought tattoos were rather nasty but after my son started getting tattooed when he turned 18, I started taking a closer look and started learning about the people who are tattooed. Every two years I have to take a behind the wheel road test to keep my CDL (commerical drivers license) and one time my examiner had a small beautiful tattoo on her wrist which I had to ask her about. She explained that she had it done before she could afford gold jewelry. The proverbial light bulb went off in my head and within a couple years I had my first tattoo, a small vine on my right wrist. Of course that was only going to be my only tattoo until the next year I had the insides of my ankles done, one with a small skunk (my motorcycle mascot) and the other with a pair of skunk footprints (to honor the many miles traveled by motorcycle). Of course I wasn't going to have anymore done, until the next year when I had a decorative piece done on my upper left arm to honor my Dad who died in 1999, and my Mom and my grandparents and my ancestry. In this tattoo is hidden a S for Striegel, a P for Phillips and a C for Cindi. The next year brought a celtic tree of life to honor my children and grandchildren on my upper right arm. The year I turned 50 I had a oriental dragon down on my left thigh. I was born in the year of the dragon. I am also a green, water dragon so my dragon is green. My artist, Tattoo Joe Marzolf from Roadhouse Tattoos in Holland, NY then said I should get a Koi and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Turns out in oriental mytholoy, the Koi swims upstream and if it's makes it's way through the rapids he is rewarded by being turned into a dragon. This then became a three year project and finally a fully sleeved thigh including a tiger (my son was born in the year of the dragon) and flowers (my daughter was born in the year of the rat but didn't want to be represented by a rat), then we added a pair of cranes for my husband and me. When we divorced his crane (cranes represent faithfulness in oriental art) was inked yellow to represent cowardice (another whole story). The background of this tattoo is bamboo and shading. I also have a celtic heart on my chest to represent a broken heart held together by a vine. (As Carly Simon sings "there is more room in a broken heart). On the back of my neck is a sun/moon with a shooting star to show the different sides of my personality. Above my butt, sometimes called a tramp stamp, is the Yamaha Logo placed between two tribal oriental dragons. This past spring I had the cover of John Irving's latest book inked, a simple broken heart with the banner that reads "Until I Find You" which is the title of his most recent book. I've always wanted to honor my love of JI's books and this was just too perfect. Tattoo Joe dressed this tattoo up with tribal designs. At the same time I had Indian Larry's Logo tattooed on the inside of my left arm. His logo is a question mark and reminds me of the mysteries of like. This is to keep me on my toes and also to honor the memory of Larry. Am I finished with my tats? No way! I have others in the planning stages. I have big plans for my full back piece. I'll publish pics in the near future. I think I took up too much room here to post any now!

Motorcycling Friends

2006-08-04T21:32:00.000-04:00

Today I said Good Bye to my Friend Ed, Run In Bare, from Ajax, Ontario. Ed had spent a night last week while traveling to visit with friends in PA. When other friends weren't around in another part of the New York, he decided to cross the border in Buffalo again so came by this way to spend another night. Ed is the guy who carved my little mouse that was pictured in an earlier post. I have been very lucky over the years to meet some of the nicest people through my different motorcycle clubs. Many of these people have been friends for years and years like Elaine (The Bag Lady), BW (Bad Wendy), MooKaw (Bonnie), PASue (Sue) and many other wonderful friends from Women On Wheels (r). In the last few years I've made a whole new batch of friends including Bob (PABob), Joe and Elaine (BroJoe & SisE), Ed (Run In Bare), Bob (Patroller) and another Bob (BongoBob) just to mention a few. I have truly been blessed with great friends in my motorcycling community!

Pic #1 PABOB

Pic #2 BroJoe and Patroller

Pic #3 PASue,

Pic #4 The Bag Lady, BadWendy, MooKaw

Pic #5 Run In Bare, Me and BongoBob

Another Hot One

2006-08-02T19:03:00.000-04:00

Man, it was another hot one today! Too hot to ride the bike, I just got in the car and turned the a/c down to 60 degrees. It felt so hot at work but when I walked out the door, it was walking into a blast furnace. When I finally got home it didn't take too long to get into the swim suit and hit the pool which is up to almost 84 degrees now. A break in the heat is on it's way and I'm looking forward to it. I'll be out riding on Friday, meeting a friend who will be coming to spend a night or two here. Hopefully I'll get out of work early enough to get down into PA before I meet up with "Run In Bare" a friend from some of my online motorcycle clubs. He spent the night here last week and left the little friend pictured below from his wood carving collection.

Dog Days of Summer and work

2006-08-01T07:32:00.000-04:00

OH WOW, it's another hot one today. I really don't do well in the heat and humidity. It's just one of the many reasons I didn't want to move to Arizona. OK, you will say "but it's a dry heat" to which I always answer "and in Western New York Winters we have that dry cold". Looks like today will be another day to spend in the pool once I get home from work this afternoon. I spent several hours in there yesterday and it was heavenly! So what do I do for work? I drive school bus and have for going on 19 years. This summer I'm working as an attendent with another driver. I'm working with a very autistic child and it's a real challenge. Today because of the heat, she didn't go to school so I got to come home and work on this for a while. Later I'll head to Aspire for one of my other jobs. I'm a driver/trainer/manager at Aspire 12 hours a week. I'm getting use to working in management and really enjoy it. What is Aspire of WNY? It use to be UCPA of WNY (United Cerebal Palsy Association). They changed the name several years ago when they realized that the great majority of their consumers had more handicaps then CP. Another job I'm currently doing is working as a secretary at a small local church, but I just resigned that position as it was becoming increasing difficult to find the time to do that job with my other jobs. In the winter I work at this same church as their organist when the other organist is wintering in Vegas. This works out perfectly for me as I'm not too likely to want to travel during the winter so I don't mind being home every weekend. Time to head to the couch and sit in front of the fan until I walk out the door to go to Aspire.

So I ride a motorcycle

2006-07-31T15:59:00.000-04:00

I called this blog Motorcyling Through Life so I guess I should explain. I grew up looking at pictures of my Dad and his friends with Harleys and Indians in the 40's. When I was little, anytime I saw a motorcycle go by (not too often on our quiet country road) I would think, someday I'm going to ride one of those. Then when I was about 15 my boyfriend have a minibike. We would ride that thing 2-up for hours. I can't believe we both fit! We sure wouldn't now!!!! Then I finally got my first ride on a "real" motorcycle when I was 16. WOW, did I love it. Fast forward a few years, I'm married with 2 little kids and my husband at the time decides to buy his brother's old 250CC Ducati. Before you know it, we have a 450CC Honda then move up to an 1100CC Yamaha. We take our first tour and decide I should get my license so we can travel as a family by motorcycle. I got my license in 1983 and my life changed! I joined Women On Wheels(r) and a whole new life opened up for me. I started traveling and became more and more independant. Just a couple years ago I got divorced after 32 years of marriage. The day I got my divorce, I went right from court to my motorcycle dealer and ordered another bike. Oh the stories I have to tell about my riding adventures, but they can wait for another day!

My first day blogging

2006-07-30T17:13:00.000-04:00

On the advice of my dear friend, Nancy, I decided it was time to enter the world of blogs. I don't know if anyone really wants to know what I'm thinking and doing, but I bet my therapist would say it's good for me.

Today is a quiet day for me. I played at my church this morning at two outdoor worship services. When I got home I figured I would head to town for the car/truck/motorcycle show but decided to just stay home and veg. I guess starting this blog is part of my veggie process.

The ifrst picture you see is of my silly little pug, Isabeau. She has been with me since February and is a silly little dog who loves to have her belly rubbed, which is when she looks like the funny dog in the picture. The secone picture is a more "normal" looking picture of my little companion.

Well, this has been a start. See you next when I have some other useless information to share!