tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320062152024-03-07T15:41:27.154-08:00Palms to PinesWhat happens when a desert rat moves out of the desert? Life, the universe, and everything! The way I see it and take it all in, anyway.Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.comBlogger843125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-90841633680662432242017-09-26T09:39:00.001-07:002018-01-10T21:08:17.874-08:00Changes<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sometime ago – maybe it was a year or two ago – I had a
very strong feeling that it was time for me to take a new path in life. My
journey so far had me devoting 10 years of my life to “author stuff” and
throwing myself into all things involved in being a writer. But then I started
feeling the stirrings of change in the wind. I knew that change was coming and
that soon I would abandon my obsession with writing books and being a writer in
general.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, that day came. The day when I knew that, yes, it
was now time for a change.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, I didn’t know what that change was. I knew
I had to be doing something else but … WHAT? Where was I supposed to go now?
What did I plan to do with my life now?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Even as I knew I would continue to write (just not as
obsessively), I also knew that it was time for a new path.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I couldn’t figure out WHAT that path was!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And it took me a long time to figure it out. The whole
scope of the change finally came to me yesterday in a bolt of inspiration. Up
until then, I had bits and pieces of these ideas and I was trying to figure out
how to make them all work.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, I have figured that out now. It was like, BOOM! It
hit me right out of the blue how to put ALL of those ideas together into one
thing and to make it all work. I immediately sat down to put together a plan for it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some of these new things I’ll be doing are going to take
me a long time to make a reality, especially since one of them requires years
of schooling, internship and practice to make it an official thing. But I am
willing to put in the time for it. I mean, what the heck else am I going to do
with my life? I'm not going to spend it doing nothing. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am now more confident about these changes and this new journey
in life now that I have figured out the steps I need to take with them and how
to bring it all together. The things I want to do and the new career paths will
definitely be an exciting challenge for me and I am looking forward to seeing
how it will all work out with each of those things. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And while I am a bit concerned that maybe I am putting
too many irons into the fire at one time, I think it is the best course of
action for me to take to ensure that at least SOMETHING will go right and I
will actually have something viable that allows me to earn a decent living for
my family. Writing books was not exactly helping me to earn a living, but I
stuck with it because it’s my passion. Pretty much why I will continue to stick
with it. (I think it’s important to pursue our passions.) But the mistake I made was
devoting 10 years to Just That One Thing. Being an author. I REALLY do need
something in place that helps me to earn a living and I think one or more of
these new ventures will make that happen. And, you know, I figure, if I can’t
get a job (after years of trying!), then I will give myself one. Hopefully one
of these new things will work out better than my attempts at being a
financially successful author.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I will continue to write books, but I can no longer
devote hours of the week to it. I must use that energy for other things.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, I can’t start these changes now. For the time being,
I need to finish writing the books that I have at present not finished writing.
Once that is done, I will create a more feasible writing schedule for new books
that complements the other things that I will have going on. Also, I will use
the time left to learn everything I can about what I need to do for these new pursuits.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So it looks like I won’t be able to start implementing my
plan for these new pursuits until the new year. And I am fine with that. I have
time to wrap up loose ends now and finish other things now. I will use this
time to get all my ducks in a row and get everything done and ready.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I will also be using a new blog to chart my progress with
these new pursuits. This particular blog is mainly for things going on in the
family. I started this blog shortly after moving from California to Oregon and
for the purpose of keeping family updated on what’s going on with us while
living here, so far away from them. But it would seem that it really does not
serve that purpose anymore. For one thing, there’s Facebook, which I have used
to stay in touch with family. And for another, the things I write about stuff
going on with us are just not that important to family anymore so I will
reserve everything for my own personal journal. Blog posts about my family just
aren’t that big of a deal anymore so that’s why I stopped blogging here.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The new blog will be my own personal journey and about
the new pursuits. I will be blogging about them only for my own reasons. I
really don’t care if nobody gives a crap about what I write on the new blog or not. Don’t care if there’s
no audience for it or whatever. It will just be my own thing.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Which pretty much speaks for everything else in my life.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So here’s to the forthcoming new journey!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is my new blog: <a href="https://justmedoingablogdawn.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Just Me</a> </span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-84856816576484680742017-07-23T12:40:00.000-07:002017-07-23T13:14:24.787-07:00Fun at the Lane County Fair 2017<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Lane County Fair came back to town last week! This is an annual event taking place in Eugene every summer. And of course, we always go every summer! We always have so much fun at the fair and the ride bracelets that allow people to go on unlimited rides until 10 p.m. are definitely a huge plus! My kids always get excited about the fair and we usually plan our trip for it weeks in advance! We usually got to the fair on a weekend because my husband works evenings all week so we went yesterday. We got home late and I was too tired to upload the 95 pictures that I took at the fair but I did upload a few of them, shared a couple on Facebook and, of course, posted my <a href="http://picturepixies.blogspot.com/2017/07/at-fair-2017.html" target="_blank">Ferris Wheel picture</a> on the Snapshot blog like I do every year.<br /><br />Today I have more time to do computer stuff so I am now blogging about our fair experience this year.<br /><br />Did I mention yet that we had a great time?? It was really so much fun. I didn’t go on any rides this year (just didn’t want to) but I still enjoyed my visit at the fair. <br /><br />Unfortunately, it was hot when we got there. The temp was 92 degrees. It was hot and sunny. I got pretty sweaty walking around after a while. Even though I was drinking water, I was still pretty hot and even felt a little lightheaded. I started to wonder if I was having one of those hot flashes again or just hot! I kinda got nervous about feeling like this in the heat and felt a little sluggish. I tried to get in the shade whenever possible or sit down so that I wouldn’t fall down! Eventually, though, it cooled off and I felt better. <br /><br />At first, I thought we would be splitting up – with Trevor going off on hir own or with hir dad and/or me with my husband and Jesse or just me with Jesse – but we did stay together as much as possible. On the occasions the kids went in different directions, they each had a parent stay with them. I know that Trevor is almost 16 but I just didn’t want Trev to be alone. I didn’t feel good about that, though there WERE times Trevor was alone for brief periods of time. Except for Jesse, we used our cell phones to text each other and find out where everybody was at.<br /><br />Many times as I stood in one area, I could feel music playing. I wasn’t sure if it was fair music or not and Trevor pointed out that there was a band performing nearby.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />At one point, as I got up to follow the kids, Trevor got my attention and let me know that I had just walked right past a friend. I really hadn't seen her! I had walked right past her! I do that sometimes. I tend to walk or run right past people I know! As I talked with her, she seemed a little hurt that I hadn't seen her and I felt really bad about that later. Fortunately, though, I saw her again later (I DID see her that time! Yay!), and so I went over to talk to her and gave her a hugf. I hope that made things right and helped her feel better. (I am terrible at noticing and recognizing people. Ugh!)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Just like last year, we ate a big fast food lunch before attending the fair because the food there is expensive (we once spent $60 on our dinner there!!) but we do buy junk food like popcorn, cotton candy and all that stuff. I had my eye on one “fair food” treat, though: Fried ice cream. I had it one year and loved it. And after dealing with being so hot, I was definitely looking forward to eating some ice cream!! Jesse got some fried ice cream too but he didn’t really like it. He also got an Elephant Ear (like Trevor did) and he liked that, too. (The Elephant Ears are good, too!) <br /><br />I wanted to take a pic with Jesse but as it got darker and later, it didn’t happen. So I settled for a selfie with him. <br /><br />Jesse won two toy prizes in games he played at the fair but he also got a Batman fidget spinner. I bought a Guns N Roses T-shirt. My husband asked why, since I’m deaf, I bought a band shirt. I explained that I was familiar with a couple of their songs before I lost all of my hearing. (Thanks to the movie <i>Young Guns</i>!) And, besides, a Guns N Roses clothing item is on my wish list. So, I was happy to get the shirt and I can cross that off my list! <br /><br />Here are some of the pictures that I took at the fair. We really had a lot of fun and can’t wait to attend next year! I think next year, I will bring along extra water.</span></span><br />
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Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-79233098291419459962017-07-19T14:06:00.000-07:002017-07-19T14:08:37.001-07:00Is there pizza in my future?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, I saw an “On this day” post on Facebook in
which I excitedly announced that I FINALLY had a new writing gig. This after
months of trying to find a new one. That made me feel sad all over again
because that supposed “gig” turned out to be a scam. It was NOT a good thing
because I was – and still am – desperate for work. For ANY kind of job, really.
I have been trying to get a new job or gig for over 2 years (I think it’s 3
years now?) and I am growing increasingly frustrated with every single
rejection. I have applied for jobs and gone to interviews – all for nothing. On
Sunday, I applied for two jobs and, on Monday, got an email from HR at one of
those jobs to call and arrange for an interview. Because I am deaf, I use
Internet relay (through Sprint). So when I called using relay, they said they
needed to speak with me directly. I explained that I am deaf and must use relay
for phone calls. (Relay involves another person to relay messages back and
forth.) They said they’d let the top HR person know and they’d get back to me.
They haven’t yet. They probably won't. And last night, I told my husband about this (he is also
deaf) and he said they probably won’t be contacting me. I HAD told them I am
deaf when I applied for the job – did they miss that note? But he said I would
be too much of a liability for them and they’d get sued if something went wrong
only because of my being deaf.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So once again, my deafness was a problem for me getting a
job. Oh, sure. We’d all like to promote the idea that a deaf person can still
be anything they want to be and do anything they want to do despite being
deaf, but the reality is that it is Very Hard to get a job in today’s world if
you are deaf. I know this so well. One lady told me she would have hired me if
I had been able to communicate over the phone.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Discrimination against the deaf is alive and well,
people. Especially in the workplace.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And of course, I have always wondered if there were other
factors that prevented me from getting a job. Was it because of my limited work
experience? (I have spent most of my adult life working from home.) The third
degree burn scars on my face and left arm? The limited physical use of my left
hand? Or my lack of a college degree? Or because I am only available for
part-time work? Or because I’m from California??</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whatever the reasons were, I have not given up in my
attempt to get a job. But it has gotten to the point where I feel like I will
be filling out job applications for all of eternity! It’s almost a joke now,
really. And sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time because I’ll just be
told “no” again.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I am too stubborn to quit. I may have obstacles in my
path, but I’m the kind of person to work around obstacles. I don’t run away and
cry and go “Boo-hoo! Poor me!” No, I keep going despite the obstacles and find
another way to get things done.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But all of this struggling to get a job has made me
sometimes wonder if I should just go into business for myself. I have read of
other people facing these same exact struggles that I have faced and they found
success striking out on their own.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, maybe I should try doing that, too? Do something on
my own? My own business?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I HAVE thought about this a lot for a long time. I have
even had several ideas for different things to do. Different careers or
different business ideas. Heck, I even thought about becoming an inventor! But
all of those ideas eventually got shot down. I would spend time thinking about
them, weighing the pros and cons and thinking long-term with these types of
jobs and businesses. And nothing really seemed like a right fit.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This morning, though, an idea popped into my head, and
the more I thought about it later in the day, the more I began to think maybe
it could work.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I drove my teen to work this morning, an idea for a
pizza place popped into my head. That’s right: Pizza! But not just your average
pizza. I had ideas for specialty pizzas. Of course, there’d be the standard
pizzas: Pepperoni, supreme, and my kids’ favorite, cheese pizza. But I had
ideas for different kinds of pizzas made with different kinds of ingredients.
And by the time I arrived at my teen’s work, I had an entire menu in my head.
As soon as I was parked, I grabbed my phone and started typing it all down. I
got ideas for more things to add to that menu on the drive back. (The drive is
an hour and fifteen minutes long!) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The thing of it is, though, I’m not much for making
pizzas. I have only made one homemade pizza and it didn’t turn out very well.
However, I have also made one of these specialty pizzas that I have on my menu,
and it was really good.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What I liked about this idea is its uniqueness. If you
want to stand out in a competitive market, you HAVE to be unique. You have to
offer something new and something that is a personal style.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I got home, I told my son about this idea and I
showed him the menu I had typed up. He thought it was interesting.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At first, though, I thought, Nah, I don’t want to open my
own pizza place. I am not good at making pizzas!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, maybe I can LEARN?? Maybe I can get training for
it?? Maybe if I try making pizzas more often, then I’d get better at it?
Especially these kinds of pizzas. Maybe. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, it’s something to think about. I really don’t have
anything else going on for me work-wise. Maybe starting my own thing is the
answer. Maybe that’s what I need to do. It’s something to think about. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At first, I wanted to throw away that menu. It’s probably
too crazy of an idea. But now I’m thinking that maybe I should just hold onto
it. Just in case. Maybe one day,<span> </span>this
will be the direction that I end up going in.</span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-29698779370003587472017-07-13T21:30:00.001-07:002017-07-13T21:38:05.398-07:00Touch-A-Truck 2017<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today was the Touch-A-Truck show. This is a free public event in which people get to see, climb inside of and basically "touch" trucks they don't usually get access to. The trash truck, mail truck and fire engine are popular mainstays but this year they also included the police SWAT truck as well as a major police riot vehicle. Trevor was too tired from work to go so I just took Jesse. He was mainly interested in the police and military vehicles. He also could not stay away from the big Pepsi truck. He kept going back to that one! He also got to meet Officer Rob Griesel and the K9 Blek. <br /><br />Here are the pictures that I took.</span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unknown truck. </span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXIJlB_bFKJp3KDuWO83Ajhhbiien5W1-pNe26ybEbxLUYnttQoXQUPi9ixDL2akXvPaQYKNjRwjiz1xCWgp7W6mHsXEmOouFrPkjKPaoyGp1sf0Wg0baztChihp4eDSf9Agd/s1600/20170713_184452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXIJlB_bFKJp3KDuWO83Ajhhbiien5W1-pNe26ybEbxLUYnttQoXQUPi9ixDL2akXvPaQYKNjRwjiz1xCWgp7W6mHsXEmOouFrPkjKPaoyGp1sf0Wg0baztChihp4eDSf9Agd/s320/20170713_184452.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Pepsi truck.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqzYHaONscsfz2O5JsXZcs_4CZH2hqgzSh98ve0RibfFYshOY7JzhTsXdKfG_Z-Ip4QLx-HTlDlyeAyP9y99t9lhOiVmgJZZbyejb_A34aexYKG6EI5Ad1fpdnp-qfLEsekiQ/s1600/20170713_173934%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqzYHaONscsfz2O5JsXZcs_4CZH2hqgzSh98ve0RibfFYshOY7JzhTsXdKfG_Z-Ip4QLx-HTlDlyeAyP9y99t9lhOiVmgJZZbyejb_A34aexYKG6EI5Ad1fpdnp-qfLEsekiQ/s320/20170713_173934%25281%2529.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihOst9Xp7V3jI0iJehrbbbVAYGdl6OTvJcfLTTNxGBM2WTmMI1ZI09fhzjEx3rGDOK1yVOWwe_bTwR5281_Ks0SCMiy6KTE64L2-iIbmZWPPE6otPPU_NWb0V0asi0hXSpPnW/s1600/20170713_174217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihOst9Xp7V3jI0iJehrbbbVAYGdl6OTvJcfLTTNxGBM2WTmMI1ZI09fhzjEx3rGDOK1yVOWwe_bTwR5281_Ks0SCMiy6KTE64L2-iIbmZWPPE6otPPU_NWb0V0asi0hXSpPnW/s320/20170713_174217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBedCxot9eCNlvXk7s-wufeym1wk_eZyqhX416M5exkXit04G6ZgBXEkFssOrVTjaw3YED7TD1uZVOvfROKi9SViPdEbKdZzVmcCjrtwchAqUmhqunELuyCKePmfqB64z-7oBQ/s1600/20170713_184224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBedCxot9eCNlvXk7s-wufeym1wk_eZyqhX416M5exkXit04G6ZgBXEkFssOrVTjaw3YED7TD1uZVOvfROKi9SViPdEbKdZzVmcCjrtwchAqUmhqunELuyCKePmfqB64z-7oBQ/s320/20170713_184224.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">18-wheeler.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8rYRLDexVFLwqvNRwqYTQy7NzaZXPQXw-opcF639D2SxMnG3NGOJop68xVQo25ooawzdSwhLhNAT7jrydt4QhRqydGWhN9HTY79hss9KWgXZlZM2n4bJiWw3XOx9CPXYT17X-/s1600/20170713_175817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8rYRLDexVFLwqvNRwqYTQy7NzaZXPQXw-opcF639D2SxMnG3NGOJop68xVQo25ooawzdSwhLhNAT7jrydt4QhRqydGWhN9HTY79hss9KWgXZlZM2n4bJiWw3XOx9CPXYT17X-/s320/20170713_175817.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNUdAoXqZYTBBNtgx0MSziXCn1lIN9JauH45OtaDayGN6dpXbbfs0y7C1jADYdZdF3aqHOwPBOe3mvlSv0rlqGZyr0-TU2wPsE05ATe16MlzsG70V6eSGZyWz4I6puzsy3cNb/s1600/20170713_175841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNUdAoXqZYTBBNtgx0MSziXCn1lIN9JauH45OtaDayGN6dpXbbfs0y7C1jADYdZdF3aqHOwPBOe3mvlSv0rlqGZyr0-TU2wPsE05ATe16MlzsG70V6eSGZyWz4I6puzsy3cNb/s320/20170713_175841.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsIIFQXSAjRIssyCxvCwnlOjFB4epBR-QcOLy7hcCk0406q5wKHRh6LW_RYeDue9EZXrml4igHX9z63boPlOsZgHt6SiK-V1QAFFVN5LjRltRmiErvfLXzyjc-g72VZRlJlmT/s1600/20170713_175905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsIIFQXSAjRIssyCxvCwnlOjFB4epBR-QcOLy7hcCk0406q5wKHRh6LW_RYeDue9EZXrml4igHX9z63boPlOsZgHt6SiK-V1QAFFVN5LjRltRmiErvfLXzyjc-g72VZRlJlmT/s320/20170713_175905.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"10-4, good buddy."</span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Logging vehicle.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4j6NTWGFvV2hxhrJFMtfA8X7V3WAn29AW3fv6Ztcnv_EJ3Kt8Az0c_fitGq0TdVEywdTMtbefY6JS9QNTtojzmrLU7OkyBy3l3WIREiRDxic9T5gCUaNdyxKpg_Uvoj1z9Gf/s1600/20170713_174340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4j6NTWGFvV2hxhrJFMtfA8X7V3WAn29AW3fv6Ztcnv_EJ3Kt8Az0c_fitGq0TdVEywdTMtbefY6JS9QNTtojzmrLU7OkyBy3l3WIREiRDxic9T5gCUaNdyxKpg_Uvoj1z9Gf/s320/20170713_174340.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOsY7wvgSrRTcl8iOJNfw7JbR43jxMpaNGljbKd3ux-TZc0R0N5JVKd0ED-pn05iWo_vSwhYCptxmx5vLE6TKn7m4huV6irlA6_gcOfSRLCC0U7s5te0u8IxId0sKXiHiXoZHb/s1600/20170713_174350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOsY7wvgSrRTcl8iOJNfw7JbR43jxMpaNGljbKd3ux-TZc0R0N5JVKd0ED-pn05iWo_vSwhYCptxmx5vLE6TKn7m4huV6irlA6_gcOfSRLCC0U7s5te0u8IxId0sKXiHiXoZHb/s320/20170713_174350.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Police SWAT vehicle.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinllIIwXWRetvgfQxTJDs06rNoFtq5vz8QctqhfwCsKVcu2v0qVZiQhGGp9V53XnDUTcKQRp_L5IeI_W94v4zTs1OcWOsar7wSqRCIToadNUtwVvapX3Iqia6xUU3bvrOXbf27/s1600/20170713_180045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinllIIwXWRetvgfQxTJDs06rNoFtq5vz8QctqhfwCsKVcu2v0qVZiQhGGp9V53XnDUTcKQRp_L5IeI_W94v4zTs1OcWOsar7wSqRCIToadNUtwVvapX3Iqia6xUU3bvrOXbf27/s320/20170713_180045.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYdZkJnSJeOBKKpJXZbiPPtjuQBTQK2LqwflgrXCy7QKIaaY2MQ3i3i7a6JCQADVkqDgaCuFU-O8TZhxaws7df2B4q0G4Ihyphenhyphen2FZ-D269dHg4wtOOcGkT4y2Bg1DaSKGE68T-0p/s1600/20170713_180025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYdZkJnSJeOBKKpJXZbiPPtjuQBTQK2LqwflgrXCy7QKIaaY2MQ3i3i7a6JCQADVkqDgaCuFU-O8TZhxaws7df2B4q0G4Ihyphenhyphen2FZ-D269dHg4wtOOcGkT4y2Bg1DaSKGE68T-0p/s320/20170713_180025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Meeting Officer Griesel and K9 Blek.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gK2UHwDcUXTxnb5Z_O8O0QGlR3seiQxnFBIDQKcqU8b_bmYgEW5XtZWSObkSvdLmZ_pv2dqB9D3F_R12N38XD851Yd5oth9GIGKb7XNmes8dmuk0D01rjml0EygWwSh4wzC7/s1600/20170713_180203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gK2UHwDcUXTxnb5Z_O8O0QGlR3seiQxnFBIDQKcqU8b_bmYgEW5XtZWSObkSvdLmZ_pv2dqB9D3F_R12N38XD851Yd5oth9GIGKb7XNmes8dmuk0D01rjml0EygWwSh4wzC7/s320/20170713_180203.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another police vehicle (not sure what it's called).</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEion1Sa5UGVcAP2LwpFju7L1MC45MZjxhQ01mdWZCB3YCTv6X3FmwzeQ6oqbu1q3As5bHvmLgJBOrnJ4R83Vcv8WsDzuWT-cHRjlGAFL2MsxPBLhFJhmdS40RxMh_m5NxLWU1vN/s1600/20170713_182208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEion1Sa5UGVcAP2LwpFju7L1MC45MZjxhQ01mdWZCB3YCTv6X3FmwzeQ6oqbu1q3As5bHvmLgJBOrnJ4R83Vcv8WsDzuWT-cHRjlGAFL2MsxPBLhFJhmdS40RxMh_m5NxLWU1vN/s320/20170713_182208.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eugene recreational bus.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8upqk3bXbQEaEBneNT8uiUw_jDpG0MNujzMjs7pGU4DBd5msbNQAU7iYY0mP0Z3mOY6STvEIIMUwAPbBiwDlVHP77rJ05fjsvg8cl__5DC2AeBst2dWrJF3m4dlhvK2Eha1P/s1600/20170713_174850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8upqk3bXbQEaEBneNT8uiUw_jDpG0MNujzMjs7pGU4DBd5msbNQAU7iYY0mP0Z3mOY6STvEIIMUwAPbBiwDlVHP77rJ05fjsvg8cl__5DC2AeBst2dWrJF3m4dlhvK2Eha1P/s320/20170713_174850.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mail van.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trash truck.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Military vehicle.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8lbtIwhYmRjxGIfaqyI5Lf4wJcu9ysA0tDquGJbL0m1WAh4v3kNWfowH5ZurkPWFWhh8Wv5ZLk3kgortkgmnQSS43oTLLesdJ7cC-LsKjB3CWo_iAvlooCXkfX17Zi3omQXq/s1600/20170713_180552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8lbtIwhYmRjxGIfaqyI5Lf4wJcu9ysA0tDquGJbL0m1WAh4v3kNWfowH5ZurkPWFWhh8Wv5ZLk3kgortkgmnQSS43oTLLesdJ7cC-LsKjB3CWo_iAvlooCXkfX17Zi3omQXq/s320/20170713_180552.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-250549074185286292017-07-11T12:45:00.000-07:002017-07-11T12:46:08.744-07:00Smokey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSU4Xjc9nNvehQc0cmC7ZJ2j3z2YsS7StNoGdvc0rAXKqjwDCl-fiCDyF_PHwGS-x8HCmr8hE6RTG-f_tlAFoB5oMbTlXMlnMJKeuNiYYRZgecDtr_-VWm6gPCpg2nwD98iPF8/s1600/Smokey2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1283" data-original-width="691" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSU4Xjc9nNvehQc0cmC7ZJ2j3z2YsS7StNoGdvc0rAXKqjwDCl-fiCDyF_PHwGS-x8HCmr8hE6RTG-f_tlAFoB5oMbTlXMlnMJKeuNiYYRZgecDtr_-VWm6gPCpg2nwD98iPF8/s320/Smokey2.jpg" width="172" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today is the three-month deathversary of when we lost
Rowena, my teenager’s pet rat. Exactly one month after Rowena died, however, we
welcomed a new member to our family.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, this new particular member of the family was
sort of unexpected!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ever since my dog, Chewbacca, died, we have made it a
point to get a new dog or cat. My son desperately wants a Pug, but so far, we
have not been able to get him one. We almost adopted a cat, but we couldn’t get
matters situated in time before someone else adopted him.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since I am all for animal rescue, I keep my eyes out for
the chance to save an animal in need of a new home. In fact, if I had it my
way, my home would be an animal sanctuary for unwanted or abandoned pets. Hey, a
girl can dream! But for now, I have to keep it low-key, and that means
replacing the pet that we had lost. Actually, two pets were now gone. The
losses were sort of getting to us.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And that’s why I think it was providence that a new
animal was brought into our lives exactly one month after we lost the second
one. That animal was Smokey.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">For some time, I had heard about Smokey in the
neighborhood. My friend knew Smokey’s owner and my friend also occasionally
cared for Smokey. Smokey is an American shorthair cat and his previous owners
did not take very good care of him. They ended up abandoning him after they
moved. My friend took care of Smokey, who had to live outside because she’d
already reached her pet limit at her apartment, but she wanted to rehome him so
that he would have his own official home. Also, my friend is planning to move,
so she and her daughter worried about Smokey being taken care of after they
left.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I expressed interest in taking in Smokey, but my husband
needed convincing first. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea since we are also
planning to move. I know that moving is a difficult experience for a pet, but I
felt Smokey would have enough time to adjust with us as his new family and get
used to us before we move. So it was decided that we would take Smokey.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, we were not yet prepared for a cat. I had
NO cat stuff at all. When we had a dog, he was with us for 21 years. I have not
been a cat owner since the early 1990’s. All of my previous cat stuff was long
gone. Also, we were not financially capable of going out to get cat stuff. In
our hearts, we were ready to welcome Smokey, but we were not ready for him
financially!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I told my friend and she took action. She placed a
call-out to people in the neighborhood to help us out in being able to give
Smokey what he needed in his new home. Litter boxes, cat litter, cat food and
even beds were donated to us for Smokey. They even donated toys and a collar! I
was very touched by this communal generosity. This definitely made it easier
for us to take Smokey then and there! (Thank you again, everyone!)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, there was also one other thing I worried
about: Smokey’s previous owners coming back and looking for him. I had not
heard good things about them and also that they may be violent. So I was pretty
nervous about being the one to “take their cat” after they had abandoned him.
(I must confess: I had once abandoned my own cat. I have felt guilty about this
ever since. But I would be happy if someone had taken my own cat in and kept
him as their own. In some way, I saw my taking in an abandoned cat as absolution
for abandoning one. I am NOT happy about this part of my past. I used to be a
rotten person and I know I did several bad things in the past that I am not
proud of. I have never again abandoned an animal since. Even so, I have never
forgiven myself for this.) But, fortunately, Smokey's previous owners never showed up. Seriously, I
spent the first couple of months expecting to hear that they were back in town
looking for Smokey. I held my breath and expected that we’d have to surrender
him back to his previous owners. But now it has been three months and I am starting
to breathe easier and feel that they are not going to come back for Smokey.
Now I even feel brave enough to post about him on my blog.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When we first got Smokey, he was really edgy around us.
He spent A LOT of time in his carrier and he wasn’t very trusting of us,
either. The slightest noise made him jump. We had to be careful not to be too
loud around him because he got scared easily. There was one time he even got
out and ran off. That was hard; my son was in tears because he just loved
Smokey. But, fortunately, Smokey came back, and a friend said maybe this means
that Smokey knows this is his home now.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later on, he felt more comfortable around us. He started
to spend more time around us and out of his carrier. We would give him lots of
treats and made sure he always had plenty of food and water. My son made him a
cat box and we also got him a cat tower. We got him other toys and, when his
neck wound from a fight with a neighborhood cat was healed, we put on his
collar. He HATED the collar at first and I wondered if his refusal to wear it
was his intention to keep himself a “free cat.” But he gradually accepted
wearing the collar and stopped tearing it off.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now Smokey is happily settled in with his new family. We love
him a lot and give him lots of attention. He is very attached to my oldest and
my oldest even wants to take Smokey with hir when ze goes off to college. (Ha!)
I have taken lots of pictures of Smokey and my son even made a video of Smokey
playing with his fidget spinner. Smokey has certainly adjusted well to his new
family and new home and I am very grateful that we were able to take him in. </span></span></div>
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<![endif]--><br />Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-67059578483481424162017-07-01T22:07:00.000-07:002017-07-01T22:14:58.121-07:00Singing on the road<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Last week was the first official week that my teen started hir first job. It is a summer job, but it’s still a real, official job all the same. The job is located a ways past Blue River, Oregon, but we call the trip out there driving out to Blue River because it’s like only one other city we have to drive into before we get to the official job site. (I’m not really sure on the name. LOL I know, that’s stupid. I know we go into a town called “Rainbow” but then when we get to hir place of employment, the address identifies the city by a different name!) But we use Blue River as the mark for our trip. Trevor starts eating breakfast after we pull into Blue River, so that’s how it is for us with this trip. Blue River is the city we keep an eye out for.<br /><br /><br />Oh, and it’s over an hour away! Actually, it’s like an hour and fifteen minutes away. We drive through several cities to get there. And we drive up on a mountain. It is a VERY scenic route! I have to take a freeway and a very long highway to get there! I spent some time last week taking pictures while driving to and from there and sharing them on Facebook.<br /><br /><br />We have to leave for the trip at 5:30 in the morning so that Trevor can get to work on time. Because of this, I had to create a new weekly schedule. The new schedule calls for me getting up at 4 a.m. Monday through Friday. Trevor gets up at 4:30 to get ready for work and the trip.<br /><br /><br />So, yeah, both of us are pretty tired on the trip. I have a cup of coffee before I leave and fill my travel mug with more coffee. (Trevor drinks hot chocolate.) Trevor sometimes sleeps on the way to hir job. I, on the other hand, cannot sleep. I have to stay awake for the drive there AND the drive home. Even so, I have still been tired and sleepy while doing all of that driving. That COULD be a problem.<br /><br /><br />I have been trying different things to stay awake for the trip: Rolling down my window, not wearing my jacket (it gets COLD out there!), counting in Spanish (my Spanish is a little rusty so this can be a challenge), slapping my face, blinking rapidly, shaking my head and even driving fast. None of those things were very effective and I didn’t feel too good about that last one. It’s dangerous to drive fast on that highway! There are lots of twists and turns. I don’t want to go flying off the mountain!<br /><br /><br />Then I tried something else. I remember how, during the many times we were on the road when I was a kid, my siblings and I would sing to pass the time. As I got older and my deafness became more profound (and THEN I couldn’t wear a hearing aid anymore), I started to grow away from my love for music and singing. I stopped singing so often. Sometimes I sang lullabies to my kids, and sometimes when I couldn’t sleep I would lie in bed and silently sing, but that is about it.<br /><br /><br />So I gave this a try – but I didn’t actually sing at first. What I did first was just play songs in my head. That didn’t work out very well. Then I silently sang songs to myself. That worked better!<br /><br /><br />Then one day, on the way out there, my son noticed my silent singing. (My son rides with me on the trip to pick Trevor up from work.) He asked what I was doing and I explained to him that I was silently singing songs to myself because it helps me to stay awake. He said I wasn’t singing, I was just mouthing the words. I told him it was LIKE singing for me, because the song was playing in my head and I sang along with it. Then I joked that he really wouldn’t want to hear me actually sing because my voice probably sounds terrible. (I don’t really know how my voice sounds. I can’t hear it! I used to sing at school in chorus and also in Sunday School but I haven’t used my voice for singing for a very long time.)<br /><br /><br />But I was thinking about what he said. Later, I asked Trevor about it. Was it so terrible to mouth the words to a song?? Trevor told me there’s nothing wrong with it and people do it all the time.<br /><br /><br />This actually made me feel better. And, hey, I always felt happy when I was silently singing along to a song. I LOVE singing so much. In fact, I used to want to be a singer. My sister, Elizabeth, and I wanted to start our own band when we were teenagers! It just makes me feel good and I enjoy singing.<br /><br /><br />But I thought even more about it. And, later, I felt brave enough to actually sing in the van as I drove home one day. I had my window down, sure, but I didn’t care if anybody heard me! I was gonna sing!<br /><br /><br />This has actually worked even better in keeping me awake for these long drives.<br /><br /><br />But in the afternoons, when I’m driving there and back to pick Trevor up, I’m not brave enough to sing in front of my kids. I have not gotten to that point yet. And anyway, maybe it’s better that I don’t. I sing old songs. Not new songs, though my kids have TRIED to introduce me to them, but old songs. Songs I grew up hearing and singing. Songs I know the words and music to.<br /><br /><br />Songs I knew before I became deaf.<br /><br /><br />In a way, singing these songs, and playing them in my head, has helped me to remember them. I can’t listen to them anymore, so I have to rely on my memory on what kind of tune a song had, what kind of music it had, and what the lyrics were. Sometimes I have to go back to read the lyrics to help me remember a song again, but if I can’t remember the music for it, it’s very hard to remember the song itself if I only know the lyrics. I have to know the WHOLE sing. Remember all of it.<br /><br /><br />That said, these are the songs I sing on the road or that I’ll be mouthing or have playing in my head that I remember the words and music to:<br /><br /><br />“Heaven” by Bryan Adams<br /><br />“Sister Christian” by Night Ranger<br /><br />“It’s a Long Road” by Dan Hill<br /><br />“Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor<br /><br />“The Search is Over” by Survivor<br /><br />“What About Love?” by Heart<br /><br />“These Dreams” by Heart<br /><br />“Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival<br /><br />“Jack and Diane” John Cougar Mellencamp<br /><br />“Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chilli Peppers<br /><br />“Soul to Squeeze” by RHCP<br /><br />“Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon<br /><br />“In My Dreams” by REO Speedwagon<br /><br />“All Through the Night” by Cyndi Lauper<br /><br />“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper<br /><br />“Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler<br /><br />"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship<br /><br />"We Built This City" by Starship<br /><br />"Sara" by Starship<br /><br />"Beat It" by Michael Jackson<br /><br />"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson<br /><br />"Thriller" by Michael Jackson<br /><br />“Inside” by Ronnie Milsap<br /><br />“Any Day Now” by Ronnie Milsap<br /><br />“In the Still of the Night” by Ronnie Milsap<br /><br />“It Was Almost Like a Song” by Ronnie Milsap<br /><br />“I Love Rock N Roll” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts<br /><br /><br />These are the songs I’d sing or have playing in my head IF I remembered the words and music (some I know from when I had a hearing aid):<br /><br /><br />“Unforgiven” by Metallica<br /><br />“Sad But True” by Metallica<br /><br />“Enter Sandman” by Metallica<br /><br />“St. Elmo’s Fire” by John Parr<br /><br />"Come As You Are" by Nirvana<br /><br />"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana<br /><br />"Lithium" by Nirvana<br /><br />"We Will Rock You" by Queen<br /><br />"Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen<br /><br />"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen<br /><br />"Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen<br /><br />"Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen<br /><br />"Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister<br /><br />“We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel<br /><br />“Never Surrender” by Corey Hart<br /><br />“Take On Me” by A-Ha<br /><br />“Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<br /><br />“Queen of Hearts” by Juice Newton<br /><br /><br />It may be unusual for a deaf person to be singing, but I wasn’t born deaf. I have a voice and I did hear songs before I lost my hearing (I became deaf from meningitis). And, well, I’m an unusual kind of person. I don’t fit into any mold. So maybe it’s not so terrible for a deaf person to be singing. Used to be I got to a point where I shunned music and everything associated with it because “I’m deaf” and it’s not part of my world. But it’s a part of my past. It’s the person I used to be. And I have realized that it’s okay to let this person who sang and loves music out of her shell every once in a while. Even if I get criticism from the Deaf community for using my voice and not signing and indulging in something that “you need to be able to hear” to be a part of. Well, I’m doing this in my own way. And if the Deaf community hates on me for that, screw ‘em! I am used to having haters. Haters ain’t gonna stop me from doing what I have to do in life and what I WANT to do in life. Haters gonna hate! Let them hate. I don’t care. <br /><br /><br />And, hey, if this is something that helps me to stay awake while I’m driving on a long road, it works for me. And I’ll do it.</span></span>Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-41638019979921234172017-06-22T21:53:00.002-07:002017-06-22T21:55:01.825-07:00My kids' last day of school<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today was my kids’ last day of school. They got out of
school late this year because we had so many snow days and ice days in the
winter.<span> </span>Trevor was a tiny bit concerned
about the late release from school because, technically, hir first job started
a week ago. But, fortunately, hir boss was very understanding so ze’ll start
tomorrow.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before this week, I was aware that Jesse’s last day would
have a different schedule. Mainly, he would get out of school early. On this
particular last day of the year, it was a different “early release” time (one
year, it was 10:30), so I made a note of this on my phone calendar.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">With Trevor, however, I was not sure what the schedule
was. The school sends out a weekly newsletter every Friday, and they usually do
alert the families if there are schedule changes. But I was not entirely clear
about the schedule change for Trev’s last day of school. I knew that all
students at the school had finals on the last two days of school, but I did not
get info about a different schedule. So I just assumed it was regular hours!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, this was true for Wednesday. The students all had
regular hours for finals. But today’s schedule was different. I was informed of
this when I asked Trev about it last week and was told the last day’s schedule
would be different. I made a note to check the latest school newsletter that I
had received as well as the school calendar that is on their website.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I finally did get around to digging up the latest
school newsletter (I save them all for just such a situation!), I was dismayed
to see that it didn’t exactly give the schedule for Thursday. Nuts! So I went
to the school website to look for their calendar. Thankfully, the schedule for
today was on there and I copied it then sent it to Trevor yesterday, asking if
this was the schedule ze would need to follow. I did say in that email to get
back to me “ASAP” so that I could plan my morning schedule accordingly.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But Trevor forgot to answer the email yesterday. So when
I checked my email in the early hours of this morning, I was frustrated not to
have that information. And Trev didn’t say anything about it in the note that
was left for me about breakfast/lunch. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was really upset about this. I started fuming and
wondering WHY I even went to the trouble of sending the damn email if Trev
thinks it’s not important enough to answer. I did remind Trevor about it twice
before I went to bed last night. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, I finally got the info from Trevor when I was
busy getting Jesse ready for school. And, because I got so upset over the
unanswered email, THEN Trevor took the time to answer it! But I was so mad, I
didn’t bother to read it. Since Trev wanted to tell me in person, I decided,
Trevor will tell me in person. So I ASKED Trevor in person about the changed
schedule. Surprise! I got an answer! (This is not the only time this has happened.
My husband has also either forgotten about emails I have sent him or he ignores
them. Pretty much why I feel like I shouldn’t even bother with those anymore,
either.)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, yeah. I got both of the kids at their schools at the
time they needed to be there. And since Jesse was having a field day today, and
was going to be outside all morning, I made sure he put on sunscreen before we
left. And when I dropped Jesse off at his school, I went into the office to
pick up his meds from the nurse’s office. The office was really busy, though,
so I had to wait to be seen. I was sure glad Trevor started school later this
morning, because I had to wait a while! After I got the meds, I said goodbye to
the office staff, thanked them for everything, and wished them all a happy
summer before I left.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then I had to take care of things with Trevor. Since it
was a late start this morning, I grabbed the opportunity to take a shower. (The
new schedule calls for my shower to be at 11 instead of at 6 a.m., which it was
before! I get up at 4 now and since I have to wake Trev up at 4:30 and leave at
5:15, there’s no time for me to grab a shower! But I MIGHT volunteer this summer and, if so, that time will be moved earlier.) After that, I made Trev’s
lunch, and I was feeling kinda sad about it. This would be the last time I make Trevor lunch for school for a while! It might be hard getting used to that no
longer being a part of my weekday morning routine for a while.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I got Trevor to school. On the way there, Trevor let
me know ze had forgotten a textbook, so I said I’d bring it and Trev let me
know when it would be a good time to do that. It was shortly after Jesse’s
release from school. So I got Trev to school then I went to grab some breakfast
on the way home. Shortly after I finally had my breakfast and took my allergy
medicine AND my antibiotics (for my throat infection), I had to leave again to
get Jesse. But then I realized I’d forgotten the textbook. Ugh! I picked up
Jesse, took him home, made him lunch, grabbed the textbook and headed out the
door again. I took Trev the textbook. While I was there, I asked about what
time Trev gets out today and Trev checked the schedule and said “2.” <span> </span>But when I got there later at 1:50 and hung
out in the library, reading a couple of pages in a book, I noticed not much was going on at 2. I
decided to check the hallway. On my way out of the library, I double-checked to
make sure there weren’t any unpaid fines or dues that needed to be taken care
of and was told it was all clear.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Back in the hallway, I texted Trev to let hir know I was
there. But I didn’t get an answer. I started walking around and I noticed there
were not a lot of students coming out of their classrooms. Was school still in
session? I double-checked the schedule, read Trev’s email (there wasn’t a note
about any changes), and was confused. The schedule said 2:20 but Trev said 2. Did
Trev just need more time? Or were all students to stay in classrooms until the
bell rang at 2:20?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whatever it was, I decided to just hang out and wait. So
I walked among the halls of the school. It’s a big school! I checked out the
athletic department and read all the names of Track & Field events and some
of the names of students who won those events and I checked out the trophies
and other awards. Wow, this school had an awesome assortment of gifted athletes!
I was impressed.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I walked around some more until it was 2:20. Then I
hung around near the freshmen’s locker, waiting for Trevor. But Trevor texted
me that ze was at the main office so I headed over there. Once I told Trev
where I had been, I was informed that the students can’t use their lockers
today. All of them were cleared out and not accessible to students. Oh well!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So we left the high school and I drove Trev home. On the
way, I patted Trev on the back and congratulated hir on making it through the
first year of high school in one piece. Yay! Freshman year is over with! Woo-hoo!
And with straight “A’s” too. I am very proud of my teen.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I am happy both of my kids
had good last days of school. Our summer is going to be a little bit different
this year – no late-night movies every night and going to bed when it's not very dark out – but it’s only for THIS summer. We have LOTS of activities and
classes planned and we look forward to it still being a great and fun summer all the
same. </span></span></span>Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-13817933145852916272017-06-17T23:27:00.000-07:002017-06-17T23:30:29.241-07:00The test day and test drive<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This summer is going to be a little bit different for us
this year. My oldest has hir first job! It is a summer job, but it is still hir
FIRST REAL JOB! Yay!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are all really excited and happy for Trevor. And I am
proud of Trev, too. This is an awesome thing to happen and I hope this will be a
good experience for hir.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But one thing we learned about this first job is that it
is actually not all that close to us. It’s actually in another city. It’s in Blue River – and that’s about an hourish away.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And because Trev needs to be there at a certain time
Monday through Friday, we have been spending weeks deciding on a new schedule
as well as planning out the route. I had some trouble figuring out the new
schedule. I knew certain things had to happen at certain times, but couldn’t
figure out the times for the other things.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday was the “test day” for the new schedule. And,
since some things were not accounted for in my NOTES for this new schedule, I
filled in the blanks as I went about the day. I went through the day as though
I was on this new schedule – got up at 4:30, got Trev up at 5, was “away” from
computer and unable to text on my phone at the times I’d be driving and not
home, and leaving at certain times that I’d need to for certain things. Jesse
got up earlier than I expected – and when I would not have been at home – so I
reminded him that next week, we’ll be on a new schedule and sometimes when he
wakes up in the morning, I might not be here. I explained to him if that
happens, it means I’ll be either taking Trevor to work or on my way home. It
was a good opportunity for us to go over this sort of scenario, so he knows
what to expect. I made a mental note to leave a note on the table for him just
in case he forgets. There is a 2-hour window of time set aside for “Jesse’s
sports” (since he’ll be busy with gymnastics and swimming this summer at those
times), but that day he was feeling too sick for it. No problem! I spent this
time with him camped out on the couch, watching TV with him. I went through the
rest of the day figuring out when other things will happen and, voila! I had my
schedule all figured out. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now we had the test drive to do. It was slated for this
weekend. I was going to go by myself but my husband didn’t like that idea. So
we all ended up going on the test drive! Good thing all of us went, too. Because
we ended up being gone for 5 hours! The problem was, we got lost and, on top of
that, could not get a signal, so we couldn’t use Google Maps. (And, no, we hadn’t
printed out the mapped route before leaving. I guess we should have!) So at one
point, my husband turned around and started driving back the other way to try
and find a cell tower. But it was a very long drive. So, instead, he stopped at
a store and asked for directions. He got the directions and we were on our way! On the way there, I saw that a city was named “Nimrod.” That made me laugh.
Wow, that would be an interesting conversation! </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Where are ya from?” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Nimrod.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“What did you call me?”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, we did FINALLY get to Trevor’s work. It was closed
but we got a good look at the place. I was glad it had a huge sign out front.
It would be hard to miss!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We never did get a signal for our phones. And when we DID
finally get somewhere where we could get a signal – when we were closer back to
Eugene – my phone had died. So had the tablet (which has Twitter on
there).<span> </span>I made a mental note about this.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I timed the drive back and it’s actually an hour and
15 minutes long. On our way back, we stopped for dinner at IHOP (it was almost
10 at this point!). At dinner, I talked with Trev about the length of the route
and we decided to calculate an hour and a half drive instead. That would mean
we would have to go to bed earlier because we’d have to get up earlier! I was
also concerned about there being no signal there. Actually, we both were a
little nervous. Trev assured me that they could call someone in the event of an
emergency and ze let me know who were on hir emergency contacts list. That set
me at ease but I’d want them to call my voicemail, too, and leave a message.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The drive to Trev’s job is a long one but, really, it’s
easy to get there and back. Yes, I have to take two highways, but it’s an easy
route. Not a lot of turns or anything like that. I am glad for that!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ll be driving Trev there to the job in the mornings,
but Jesse comes along when I pick Trev up in the afternoon. Since he complained
about being hungry on the trip, I made a mental note to pack snacks as well as
bottled water. I’d also bring along his blanket and some books to make him more
comfortable and entertained.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another issue, though, is gas. I am hoping we can figure
that out.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am glad we were able to test out the new schedule and
the drive to Trev’s place of employment. I may do one more test drive just to
make sure I have the route down pat. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I do enjoy driving long distances, but wow! This one is
pretty long. The route is also VERY scenic: We saw trees, mountains, forests,
rivers and lakes. It was just BEAUTIFUL! I am glad to be driving this route
because I love seeing all of that stuff!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And I’m looking forward to greeting the sun from the
road, too. I’ll just have to be sure to have some extra coffee with me.</span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-79879835852625950062017-06-06T21:41:00.000-07:002017-06-06T21:43:13.479-07:00The signing stranger<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Because I am deaf, I usually don’t participate in social
activities. Of course, I also decline these invitations because I have social
anxiety. By nature, I’m a loner. I don’t like being in crowds. Being surrounded
by people I don’t know. I prefer to be alone. So I don’t really socialize
with people. Or communicate with people. When I am out and about, I say hello
to familiar faces. I nod in recognition of others who reach out to me. But I am
not attempting to be social with people. I don’t seek new friendships or to commiserate with
people.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My son, however, is another story. He does like to talk
to people. And while I tolerate communicating with people HE knows through his
school, anybody else is pretty much off of my radar.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">See, I have had years of experience of people tuning me
out because of my deafness. With many, many people, they stop talking to me, or
trying to communicate with me, once they learn I am deaf. They pretty much
start talking to someone who is with me who can hear. And I am forgotten about.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">For this reason, I don’t even TRY to talk to people
anymore. I have shut people out. I am not a part of the hearing world and I
probably never will be.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And after almost 12 years of living in Oregon, I have had
enough exposure to people to know there are not many deaf or hard-of-hearing
people in my area. And I know very few who can sign.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And it’s always a surprise when I meet someone who can
sign. It’s very rare, but it happens.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It happened not too long ago when I met<span> a </span>Facebook friend IRL (she lives in the
neighborhood). And it happened again today.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">After Jesse’s gymnastics class was over, I took him to
the nearby Dari Mart. I usually do this after his gymnastics class. It’s his
weekly treat. Well, while we were there, I noticed Jesse getting into a
conversation with someone. I figured this was a person who volunteers at his
school, because we often run into such people there, so I didn’t really pay
much mind to it. I did, however, keep Jesse close, and kept a watchful eye on
him. Not so much on the person he was talking to.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But the person he was talking to was trying to get my
attention. Finally, I looked at him, ready with the whole “I’m deaf”
announcement and the typical response from him of ignoring me. But when I
looked at him and nodded my hello, I was surprised to notice something: He was
SIGNING!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What? Had my ignoring him tipped him off that I am deaf?
Did it tell him that I had no clue what anybody was saying and therefore didn’t
bother to try to keep up?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whatever it was, he somehow knew I was deaf. I was really
surprised that he knew how to sign. All of a sudden, I was interested in
communicating with this person. In TALKING with this person. This person knew
my language!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This person introduced himself as Erik and he said he
knew how to sign because he has a daughter who is deaf. (Where IS this
daughter?? How come I haven’t seen her??) Then he talked about his father,
grandfather, his son and grandson. I was really intrigued. It was no nice to be
able to communicate with someone who I could understand. He was a very nice
person, very communicative and knowledgeable in ASL, and very friendly. And as
he was leaving, he signed “I love you” to us and then he turned and was gone.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">This whole experience made
me smile. And it made me think: Maybe I shouldn’t shut out people so much. I
always expect the worst. I always expect a person to not care, not want to
communicate or anything. But this experience right here was a pleasant
eye-opener. It made me realize that maybe I should give people a chance. Who
knows? There might be someone out there who can sign – and who actually wants
to communicate with me in a way that I can understand. </span></span></span>Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-21505440905992434152017-05-14T20:58:00.002-07:002017-05-14T21:01:11.282-07:00Mother's Day 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZ5uDtV9XfBz2s0USVwQKHzpqYOdu_TJQ6w3B_ntib6wMMgg6yBRqtMANcXbBUm_ywPL-8T27SQXFxo9yRxPFatM1qEDHAf357cO7UaJdxj7YqYFa-JR8AoiDRn0sglXZ90kZ/s1600/20170514_201959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZ5uDtV9XfBz2s0USVwQKHzpqYOdu_TJQ6w3B_ntib6wMMgg6yBRqtMANcXbBUm_ywPL-8T27SQXFxo9yRxPFatM1qEDHAf357cO7UaJdxj7YqYFa-JR8AoiDRn0sglXZ90kZ/s320/20170514_201959.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today was Mother’s Day and it was a really nice Mother’s Day for me. Mother’s Day actually started at 4 a.m. for me! That’s when I woke up filled with so much love and gratitude for my children. I just love my kids SO much! They really do mean everything to me. I am grateful to have them in my life. I went into their rooms and kissed them both then I sent Trevor a text message saying “I love you.” Then I hung out in the living room to drink some water then I went back to bed. <br /><br />Jesse made me breakfast this morning: Pop Tarts. I enjoyed them! He also had a really sweet art project that he made for me for Mother’s Day and he gave it to me this morning. It was just so sweet and melted my heart. He also gave me chocolates.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh00l9800kGIpwYHFVsAlYRQJOMuRM_c4pnp1B8jadF0DmK9IS74I1fySImpL7Hh-PGRop6VZETYJIAvLtgnRYH0aIzklCdnpifzmbHOcxG1aNM0fScpt3hYY0xQM5rGz-_XqL8/s1600/20170514_141755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh00l9800kGIpwYHFVsAlYRQJOMuRM_c4pnp1B8jadF0DmK9IS74I1fySImpL7Hh-PGRop6VZETYJIAvLtgnRYH0aIzklCdnpifzmbHOcxG1aNM0fScpt3hYY0xQM5rGz-_XqL8/s320/20170514_141755.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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Jesse made a Minecraft project for Mother’s Day. He does this every year. He is
really good at Minecraft and I thought it was awesome.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I
also received another Mother’s Day gift from Trevor and my husband later in the
day: It was a really nice candles. I love candles and collect them so I was
happy to add this one to the many I already have.</span> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse also made me lunch today but hubby gave me some of
the rice that he cooked too. I ate that with the PB&J sandwich from Jesse.
I also drank tea with that lunch. It was yummy!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I spent some time doing things for myself – reading articles
online, spending time on my personal Twitter account, updating my website and
finishing a book I have been reading – but I also spent time with the kids. We
hung out on the couch watching TV and we also went out to do a bit of shopping.
We get a free Redbox movie tonight so we’re going to watch that movie and have
popcorn, too. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s been a very pleasant day. I really feel so blessed
to have my kids and I am glad to share another Mother’s Day with them. They
really do mean a lot to me and I hope that when they are older they will look
back and recall happy memories from their childhood. My goal is to raise my
kids to be good people but I also want to give them the best kind of life that
I can. I want them to have a childhood they won’t have to recover from in
adulthood and I hope that has been working out for them so far. </span></span></div>
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<br />Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-91585074730006988762017-05-11T22:54:00.003-07:002017-05-11T22:55:53.859-07:00Petanque<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The other day, Trevor told m something: The French class
that Trevor is in is now playing in a game called petanque. In fact, the school
which Trevor attends is one of only three schools in Oregon which play this game.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I learned about this, I had to smile. I mentioned
that I knew about petanque – because there’s a scene of children playing it in
one of my novels! Well, it’s the very ancient version of the game and it was
played by Gaulish children. But, yeah, sam game! The one Trevor plays is the
modern version.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">After learning about this, I became excited. I wanted to
see Trevor playing this game! Honestly, I thought Trevor was done with sports
forever. But then THIS happened! So I guess NOT!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, today was a day for another game. And THIS
particular game was to be played at another school!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The problem was, I didn’t know how to get to that school.
I spent hours going over routes to the school on Google Maps. My husband
coached me on how to get there. And Trevor also was my navigator – pointing out
which way to go as I drove.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Even after all that, though, I still got lost! (I missed
the exit on the freeway.) It took a while, but we got back on track and Trevor
once again took over in the role of “navigator” to show me which way to go.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, I ended up getting Trevor to the game late
and Trevor was unable to play on the regular team. I felt really miserable
about that. I sat there moping and thinking I should get the Worst Mother of
the Year award. Even though Trevor kept insisting it was okay. I still felt
bad! However, after another team finished playing, they invited both Trevor AND
Jesse to play. Cool! I was excited about this but even more excited that Jesse
got to participate too.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">That’s right, folks. Today my son learned how to play petanque.
He had fun playing it too!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trevor and some of the others (including Trevor’s French
teacher) gave Jesse tips on how to play and showed him how to stand inside the
ring and how to toss the ball. It took a while before he caught on.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then it started to rain. First it was a light drizzle,
stopped, rained, stopped, then there was a huge freaking downpour! And I was
sitting there watching as everybody kept continuing to play petanque. I had my
coat but no hood or umbrella so Trevor was kind enough to remove the jacket and
drape it over me, covering my head. I protested at first – I didn’t want to be
fussed over – but Trevor insisted on it so I accepted and said thank you.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">They finished out the game and then we all went to where
there was a tented area with a table of food. As everybody ate the snacks, I
hung around under the tent just to get out of the rain!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Despite getting soaked in the rain – and despite getting
lost – it was a fun time and we were all smiles as we left. We all had a great
time! I took as many pictures as I was able to in between the episodes of rain.
I am happy I got to see Trevor play petanque, happy that Jesse learned it AND
that he got to play too, and happy that I was able to get some pictures! Yay
for petanque! I can’t wait to go to the next game!</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
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Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-67637712514477979772017-05-09T14:43:00.000-07:002017-05-09T14:46:52.970-07:00Pictures from my walk<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today I was finally able to do something that I have not
done for a while: I went for a walk. I only planned to walk for 30 minutes but
it ended up lasting for 50 minutes! That was pretty awesome. Anyway, I had not
gone for a walk for some time because I was sick with a cough for a while
there. I think I had that cough for 3 weeks. Fortunately, it was not as bad as
<a href="http://palmstopines.blogspot.com/2016/07/goodbye-sicknesses-hello-again-to.html" target="_blank">the cough I had last year</a> (and I hope to never get sick with THAT ever
again!!), but I was coughing on and off a lot. Also, the cough was not as deep or
violent as the cough from last year (those coughs literally kept throwing me
forward!). I have been drinking ginseng tea but I’m not sure if it will help
keep the cough away. Still, it’s good tea to drink!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another reason why I have not gone for a walk is because
of such a shortage of free time for it. I have been REALLY busy lately. But I
am working on managing my time better and hopefully I can get my schedule on
track to include a daily walk.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I saw a few interesting things on my walk today – a discarded
business card, two magnets promoting a local event and a sock – but THESE were
the things that made me grab my cell phone and snap pictures. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also, I like taking pictures of flowers.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-54583014733461568022017-05-01T20:01:00.000-07:002017-05-01T20:02:22.481-07:00Jesse's first day of swimming lessons<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today was Jesse’s first day of his very first swimming
lessons! He was really excited about being able to go to swimming lessons
today. I have tried to get him signed up for swimming lessons in the past but I
was always too late; the classes were all filled up by the time I started
looking. Every year that I tried! This year was better. Got him signed up and
today he started.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, he was 5 minutes late for class. Parking
was TERRIBLE! Ugh! I think they need a larger parking lot! Well, it still
worked out okay.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">His swim coach is really nice. I was glad to see that
there weren’t a ton of kids in his group. There were other swim classes spread
around the pools but they all had ample space. Jesse was glad that his lessons
were at an indoor pool. There were only four kids in Jesse’s group and they all
were well-behaved.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">For the first class, they practiced things like climbing
in and out of the pool, floating and jumping in. It was a very basic and easy
class. It only lasted for 30 minutes so there was only so much that they could
cover. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Still, Jesse had a lot of fun. He LOVES his swimming
class! He wasn’t afraid of the pool at all (though he was afraid to jump off
the miniature diving board) and he got along with everybody. He also handled
showering and changing in the boy’s locker room well too. Plus, there was
plenty of space for parents to sit and watch their kids.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">After his class, Jesse was all smiles and he was excited.
He said it was “amazing!” and he looks forward to going back again. I am just
glad that he will finally learn how to swim!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are pictures that I took:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi002Ts9p_9XmcviDXocIrkvhjeZHhQ9u9p2G9Fl1LVk7MJvWboTh1w1cnxJtG3WpYdbMnEL8G2z0-V9vSSTWAQLKYb2HyioVkZXPltsu6vda_HavSqRxIX-ktFwFYtFigF7_gu/s1600/20170501_175425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi002Ts9p_9XmcviDXocIrkvhjeZHhQ9u9p2G9Fl1LVk7MJvWboTh1w1cnxJtG3WpYdbMnEL8G2z0-V9vSSTWAQLKYb2HyioVkZXPltsu6vda_HavSqRxIX-ktFwFYtFigF7_gu/s320/20170501_175425.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-43651060084177210172017-04-14T13:27:00.002-07:002017-04-14T13:29:07.897-07:00We really heart the Fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-VqnNnfOa3Ry0SWnddpnaOLwfim6LEYCTz3fGd0d61EA16p-1uuwcCCDfVo7B-qowz8d4Q19UyKLs0asnRP9RwSJ6Dv5QYuYQyiDACZkKV_AMLAg2mcOHWtDdMBywiiGGzYrx/s1600/20170405_132420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-VqnNnfOa3Ry0SWnddpnaOLwfim6LEYCTz3fGd0d61EA16p-1uuwcCCDfVo7B-qowz8d4Q19UyKLs0asnRP9RwSJ6Dv5QYuYQyiDACZkKV_AMLAg2mcOHWtDdMBywiiGGzYrx/s320/20170405_132420.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, I got an email from Tammie King of <a href="https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5" target="_blank">Night Owl Reviews</a>. I have been reviewing books for them for some time now (I believe I
started in 2013). I started reviewing ebooks for them until I was able to start
reviewing their print books. Since then, I have reviewed mostly print books for
them. This is because we only have one computer in the house that I was using
to download ebooks onto and read them at the desk – when I had the chance to read them,
that is. Because my time on the computer was so limited for a while there, I
only had so much time to read ebooks that I had on the computer. Because my
youngest child is older now and in school full-time, I have more time available
to be on the computer earlier in the day. Also, I now also have a smartphone
and now, it would seem, an e-reader, too!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I’m not sure if I can call my e-reader a “Kindle.” Or
even an e-reader!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the past, I was asked if I was interested in getting a
Kindle. I said “no” because I didn’t think I would be interested in using one
to read books. At that time, I was too hooked on print books!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, lately, I have started to read ebooks again, and I am
now more interested in continuing to read ebooks. And until recently, I was
still only reading them on the computer!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then I got Tammie’s email that was sent to all reviewers,
in which she informed us that NOR was switching to “ebook-only” for reviews.
Because I didn’t have an e-reader, I let Tammie know I was iffy on my time to
read ebooks, since I was reading them on the computer! Well, Tammie got back to
me saying “I have a Kindle I can send you,” and that got my interest! Now, at
this point, I recently started to read ebooks again, and I was interested in reading MORE ebooks! And my desire to own a
Kindle? It was certainly there! So I let Tammie know I’d be interested in
using the Kindle to review books for NOR – and I thanked her for her generosity
in providing one!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I received the Kindle, my son was with me to look at
it. We were both really excited about it! He even took my picture of me holding
it for the first time. LOL I was happy to now own an e-reader – but as I
learned, I wasn’t sure if I could call it that! Or even a Kindle!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I told my husband that I got a “Kindle,” and when I
showed it to him, he said that it wasn't a Kindle.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was confused. Tammie called it a Kindle. It was made by
Amazon, who makes the Kindles, so it’s a Kindle, right? Sure, it says “Fire” on
it, but it’s still a Kindle….right??</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, I wasn’t too sure if it was! And when I set it up
on my Amazon account, they identified it as my “Fire” and not "Kindle." So
should I call it my Fire?? That seems a little weird. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My son solved my dilemma by referring to it as a "tablet."
Technically, it is NOT a “tablet” as tablets are known in the tech world, but
since it is bigger than my smartphone and kinda shaped like a “tablet,” the
name has stuck. Also, we can do other things on it besides read ebooks – like play
games, watch videos, take pictures and stuff. There is also email on there, but
I haven’t yet figured out how to get it to work for my email. (I am still
getting acquainted with it.)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I think that calling it a “tablet” is a good idea.
Calling it a “Fire” just isn’t workable for us. Especially this morning, when I
told my son to “grab the Fire” before we headed out the door. Then I realized
what I had said and amended that to: “I mean, grab the tablet. Don’t grab
actual fire.” He laughed and pretended to pick up invisible fire from the fireplace
and carry it to his backpack.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Having the Fire/tablet has been awesome for us and I am
really grateful to Tammie King for sending it (thanks again, Tammie!). I am
still trying to figure it all out and have also downloaded some ebooks onto it
in preparation for getting used to reading ebooks on it and figuring out how
that feature works, too, for when I start reviewing ebooks for NOR. (Right now,
I am working my way through a stack of prints to review for them.) My son is
also using it and has enjoyed the tech features on it too. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And ever since I have been checking out ebooks on Amazon,
I started to think about renewing my membership for Kindle Unlimited to get
free ebooks to read. (I never have enough books OR ebooks to read!!) I
cancelled that membership a while ago because I just WASN’T reading ebooks! But
now I have the tablet/Fire/Kindle/e-reader to read ebooks with, and downloading
ebooks on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited is a snap. So today, when my friend
was advertising that her ebook was free for a limited time through Kindle
Unlimited, that was the push to make me decide to go ahead and renew my
membership with Kindle Unlimited and I snatched a copy of my friend’s book in
ebook form (get it <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Watergirl-Juliann-Whicker-ebook/dp/B00ESNCWJ2/ref=la_B004U74ZH8_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492113948&sr=1-2" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So now it looks like I’m all set to read ebooks again and
I look forward to reading as many ebooks on the Kindle Fire e-reader that I
can! And I look forward to reviewing future ebooks for Night Owl thanks to the e-reader making my ability to read them now a little more convenient. </span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-3457619196527381892017-04-12T21:33:00.002-07:002017-04-12T21:38:52.759-07:00RIP Rowena<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7-uXaxm-nKkPwH1IYALld_69nEgxYSzZxtDkFRasz-SEImtMODm1UzmUD2jQctzw8oy6aiffg10NRNV8pYul1zexM7OM15ffOScDop5rvJFkVIYh1HqPtoin3bXf7IW1HyOJ/s1600/20170210_142418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7-uXaxm-nKkPwH1IYALld_69nEgxYSzZxtDkFRasz-SEImtMODm1UzmUD2jQctzw8oy6aiffg10NRNV8pYul1zexM7OM15ffOScDop5rvJFkVIYh1HqPtoin3bXf7IW1HyOJ/s320/20170210_142418.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sometime ago, I posted on this blog about Rowena, my
daughter’s rat. Rowena had become ill with what was assumed to be cancer but
was later diagnosed as a chronic lung disease. We were instructed to give him
antibiotics twice a day. And for a while, we were doing this. We didn’t know if
Rowena was going to recover from the disease but we did know that it was chronic
and that he would need the antibiotics for the rest of his life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The rest of his life ended up lasting for only two
months. His condition worsened and, yesterday, he took his last breath. He was
extremely weak, had trouble breathing, the left side of his body was limp and
he could barely move. He would try to eat, but his condition was just too bad
for him to be able to eat. He died surrounded by family with his favorite music
playing in the background. He was 2 ½ years old.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember the first day that Trevor brought Rowena home.
He was such a tiny rattie and just so really cute. He was named “Rowena” after
the Harry Potter character. I eventually got into the habit of calling him “Ro”
(which reminded me of Ensign Ro from <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i>. I also
called Salazar “Sal”). I had some reservations about Trevor getting a second
rat, but she assured me that rats are social and that her other rat, Salazar,
would be happy to have a roommate. That’s not how it went, unfortunately, so we
had to separate them. They each had their own cages. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">From the beginning, I could tell that Rowena was a little
different from Salazar. They each seemed to have their own personalities. Even
so, both of them loved the same kind of music (Beethoven) and both of them
enjoyed hanging out with us every so often. We would spend time with each of
them every day so that they weren’t in their cages all of the time.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There were many times that Rowena would hang out at the
desk as I was writing, reading or doing research. I also had him up on my
shoulder. He liked to burrow inside of the hood of my hoodie. He also liked to
go inside of paper bags we’d put up on the table every once in a while. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But any chance he got, Rowena would hurry over to be with
his mommy. There was a certain kind of excitement and joy he exhibited when
Trevor would come home from school and visit him or whenever they were hanging
out together on the couch. He always loved to be close to his mommy. He loved
her so much and I know that she loved him, too.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trevor took excellent care of Rowena and always made sure
he had what he needed. She sometimes would text me while at school and ask me
to check on Rowena or give him some extra cuddles. Of course, I’d also
occasionally go in to check on all 3 animals (the two rats and the bearded
dragon) but also talk to Rowena to let him know we were there for him.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When Rowena got sick, he did get some extra love and
attention. It was frustrating when his condition worsened and we knew he didn’t
have much time left. For this reason, we were grateful for every new day that
we got with him. We didn’t take any of those days for granted. We cherished
every single extra day he was still with us.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are all really sad that he has left us now. I am glad
he is no longer in pain, that he did not die alone, and that he did not die in
his cage. I am glad that we gave him all of the love and cuddles that we could.
We did try to do everything for him but there was only so much that could be
done to save him. It has not been easy for us to accept this loss and we have
so many happy memories of him. And Trevor has many pictures of him to remember
him by too.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We buried Rowena in our backyard. It was a small ceremony
in which we all said goodbye to him. It is unfortunate and sad he is gone but
we will never forget him. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rest in peace, Rowena. I hope you enjoy playing with our other rats, Homeboy and Pebbles. We will miss you and love you always.</span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-3240522391843151162017-03-31T21:39:00.000-07:002017-04-01T07:30:43.807-07:00Jesse's Friday of fun<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I want to go swimming.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My son’s request made me pause. Swimming? Where? I knew
there were public pools here in Eugene and also in Springfield, but I wasn’t
sure if visiting one for a day was even possible. I had recently been perusing
a catalog for Splash!, a waterpark, and was upset to see that they charge an
out-of-district fee for visitors. I thought that was really unfair for people
who just wanted to have some fun in a pool! So I decided to ask friends if they
knew of a more affordable place we could go to for Jesse to have some pool fun.
Unfortunately, our friends weren’t sure, and also unsure about what was
available at the Y.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I hit the Internet. I Googled local public pools and
checked out what came up. One public pool did charge an out-of-district fee to
get in, another one had some really bad reviews, and another one was closed.
Fortunately, I did find one that DIDN’T charge an out-of-district fee and,
better still, the one day pass was MUCH more affordable (under $5!). So I told
Jesse we would go there. I had also discovered that they offered swimming
lessons and ALSO at an affordable price! I have been trying to sign Jesse up
for swimming lessons for years but I was always too late. By the time I looked
up swimming lessons for him, they were always full.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, not THIS time! In fact, there were 4 spots left for
the swimming class I wanted to sign him up for, so while we were there, I got
him signed up. Yay!!! He is FINALLY going to learn how to swim! At age 9, I
think it is high time he learned how to swim. (Sidenote: We don’t have our own
swimming pool.)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I drove Jesse out to the public pool today.
Thankfully, I managed to get there without getting lost! (All that time I spent
on Google Maps figuring out the route paid off LOL)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When we got there, I got Jesse registered, signed him up
for swimming lessons, and paid for the one-day pass. Jesse was too nervous to go
into the men’s shower room by himself so they told him he could just go on in
to the swimming pool. He was so excited when he got into the pool! His face lit
up and he said, “Wow!” He started swimming around and I stayed there at the
side, watching him. There were two lifeguards on duty at all times but I kept an eye on him anyway. I advised him to use a floatie at all times, even though he
was in the shallow area, and he had lots of fun with THAT! He also bought some
goggles and he thought it was cool to see underwater. The first time he did it,
he said “that’s cool” and “it’s awesome.” He really had a blast playing in the
pool. He was only able to play in the pool for an hour, though, and he really
DIDN’T want to get out of the pool! He was having too much fun! But I assured
him we would come back sometime.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">After he got out of the pool, he was more comfortable
going into the showers with the other kids and he also changed clothes. After
that, we went home, grabbed Trevor, then headed out for froyo at TCBY.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then after Jesse finished eating his froyo, he went
across the street to play at his friend’s house.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now we’re ending the day camping out on the couch,
eating gummy worms and watching the movie <i>How to Eat Fried Worms</i>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse sure had a fun day today and we are looking forward
to doing more fun things tomorrow. His last day for Spring Break is on Monday
so I’m hoping to squeeze in as many fun activities while I can.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are pictures I took at the pool. It’s an indoor
pool, by the way.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-89473594660782221982017-03-23T21:41:00.000-07:002017-03-23T21:43:26.047-07:00The boy who waited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My son, Jesse, had a dentist appointment this morning so
he went in to school late today. This morning, I was doing something that I
normally do on a weekday: Setting up what articles I would be reading for
today. (The articles come from the website, ScienceDaily, as well as anything
of interest from TIME or the the <i>L.A. Times</i>. Sometimes I will find articles to
read on Facebook or Twitter, as well. I love to read articles about new
developments in science and medicine, as well as any news or topics of interest
of things going on in the world. I usually share what I read on <a href="https://twitter.com/dawnwilson325" target="_blank">my personal Twitteraccount</a> and Facebook. I call this time that I take to read articles “research”
because a lot of the times I come across info I can use in my books.) I did not
have the time to read them just yet but I would read them later when I did have
the time. As I was going through the list of article titles, Jesse appeared at
my side, asking if I would pour him a bowl of cereal. Yes, I know; at 9, he is
perfectly capable of doing that himself. I guess he just wanted me to do that
for him, or something. I told him to please wait a few minutes so that I could
finish going through this list first then I’d pour his cereal for him. He
waited a little bit but I guess he was too hungry to wait longer so he did it
himself.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was not happy. I should have been, because he was
doing something he was perfectly capable of doing himself, but I was irritated
that he lost his patience with me. And I let him know that it bothered me that
he changed his mind about waiting for me. The kids often lose their patience
with me and so that has been an ongoing thing I
have tried to fix with them. It IS important for people to have patience
with others!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Later, as I was cooking breakfast, I began stewing over
how this has happened with other people, too. They either get tired of waiting
for me, lose their patience with me, or they give up on me and decide I’m no
longer worth it and go on to do other things. I might as well start telling
people that if they are NOT willing to wait until I can do what they need me to
do, then don’t waste my time even asking. Just look for someone who can give
you what you want RIGHT NOW. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But I also thought about how I let Jesse know that it
bothered me that he wouldn’t wait for me. Would my words have any impact? Would
he think about what I said?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I soon found out because he asked me to go somewhere to
see something. I told him I couldn’t right now because I was busy cooking, but
that I would look at it when I was done. He walked off to another room. As I
finished cooking, I wondered if he would wait. But then again, I didn’t really
expect much to come out of that. If you don’t expect anything from people, then
you won’t be disappointed when they don’t do anything! That is my philosophy!
Expect nothing and avoid disappointment when nothing happens!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But, it didn’t turn out that way this time. When I was
able to step away from the stove, I asked Jesse what he wanted to show me.
Guess what? He still showed me what he had wanted to show me earlier. He. Had.
Waited! Awesome!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I thanked Jesse for his patience and I also said it was
nice of him to wait until I was available to give him my full attention. And,
you know, it really was. Hopefully, he’ll start to be more patient! (And recognize
that he can just go ahead and do the things he can do if someone is too busy to
do them for him.)</span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-78288686491129921602017-03-12T22:49:00.000-07:002017-03-12T22:51:11.806-07:00Jesse's last basketball game<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My son, Jesse, has been sick with a chest infection since
last Monday and he had a rough week. He got to a point of being too sick to go
to school and he ended up missing 3 days of school. Fortunately, he saw a
doctor on Saturday, and we are giving him the right medicines that he needs for
treatment.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And while I definitely want to encourage a child to rest
and limit activities while being sick, it would seem that Jesse was not going
to be able to do that this weekend.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday was the day the team pictures for his
basketball team were being taken and today was their last game. It was not like
we could reschedule these things and this was the only time those things were
going to happen. And while Jesse was feeling pretty crappy, I knew he had to go
to both games. If he didn’t go, he would miss out on both of those things. He
might regret that later and also get really upset. My husband didn’t want Jesse
to go to either games, but these were the last two – the first with team
pictures – so I told him that Jesse had to go despite being sick. (And anyway,
I wanted Jesse to learn that sometimes we have to do things even when we are sick.
Heck, when I was sick for all of last week, I still got up early in the morning
and got the kids to school! Life doesn’t stop just because we get sick!)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I explained to the coach that Jesse was sick so Jesse was
allowed to sit out Saturday’s game. However, Jesse was feeling well enough to
play today, so he got to play with his team for their last game. I am so glad
that he got to play, too. It WAS the last game! His team didn’t win but they
still had a good game. And Jesse played pretty well, despite being sick.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So he got to be in the team pictures and he also got to
play for his team’s last game. This season has gone by so fast. Jesse did miss
a lot of practices and games, unfortunately, because of sickness or because we
were out of town, but he had a great time playing basketball. I am glad he has
good memories of his first experience of playing basketball. He will cherish
those memories for a long time. His teammates were awesome and he got along
with everybody. And his coaches were awesome, too!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s gonna take me a while to get used to not having to
schedule things around his practices and games, and even not taking him to
practices or games anymore! But there’s always next season. He is looking
forward to playing on a basketball team again. Meanwhile, he’ll be shooting
hoops off-season when he gets the chance!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are the pictures I took from today’s game. Jesse is
#40.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-65338850971843047052017-03-02T22:29:00.000-08:002017-03-02T22:32:21.981-08:00Our trip to California for my sister's wedding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last month – on the 22, actually – we did something we
had been spending months and weeks preparing for: We traveled to the California
desert to attend my youngest sister’s wedding. She and her longtime partner,
Allison, finally tied the knot – after 20 years together! We were so excited
and happy to see the two of them get married. Even before Millie married
Allison, we knew her as Millie’s friend, and she’s been a part of my family for
a long time. And even before it became legal last month, I considered Allison
to be my sister-in-law and the kids considered her to be their aunt.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So on February 25, 2017, Millie Colclasure and Allison Warner
were married. It was such a beautiful wedding. I got to be a part of the "bride
tribe" – one of the maids-of-honor. And I’m a 42-year-old married woman! But I
still got to be a part of her bridesmaids. Two of my other sisters were there,
too, as bridesmaids: Jeanette and Elizabeth (Liz). Both of them are also
married and a little older than a typical bridesmaid. But there we were, her
sisters, a part of the ceremony to witness her marry the love of her life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was truly amazing and beautiful to witness the joining
of the Warner and Colclasure families. We love everyone in the Warner family
and I even call Allison’s grandmother “Nana” just like everyone else. (So does
Millie.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My son, Jesse, was the ringbearer for the wedding. It was
the first time ever he has been a ringbearer! He was so adorable and it was so
cute to watch him walk down the aisle carrying the rings. My daughter, Trevor,
was also a part of the wedding: She got to be one of Allison’s bridemaids. I
was very happy that I and my children got to be a part of the ceremony.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We had quite an adventure getting from Eugene, Oregon to
Palm Springs, California. Before we left, though, there was all this drama
going on about the arrangements we had made with some people to take care of
Trevor’s animals while we were gone. The whole thing stressed me out. On the
day of the trip, I freaked out so bad that I thought of not going. It was
either not going or putting the animals into the back of the van and taking
them with us!! Fortunately, family and friends calmed me down and I was able
to think logically again. (I guess I don’t handle stress well!) We made new
arrangements and I set up back-up people in the event that didn’t go as we
planned. Then there was more drama and I had to deal with THAT and after
everything got squared away in all of the arrangements we had made, we were
FINALLY able to leave. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We had planned to be on the road all night but that didn’t
happen. We had car trouble in Medford. We ended up having to get a motel room
in Medford for the night and then getting the van fixed the next morning. We
had to get a new part for the van (OF COURSE!) but after that was cleared up,
THEN we were finally on our way! Again!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The rest of the trip was uneventful. I posted updates
about it on my <a href="https://twitter.com/dawnwilson325" target="_blank">personal Twitter account</a>. And I took A LOT of pictures – both on
the trip there, while we were there, and on the way back home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The kids LOVED California. Jesse had been in California
before, when he was one (he was born here in Eugene), but I’m not sure if he
remembered much of it. They really soaked up the sun and checked out the palm
trees. They had fun walking in the sand and going hiking with their cousins in
the Thousand Palms Canyon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was so happy to be back on my home turf. Seeing those
beautiful mountains and those amazing palm trees again made me feel like I was in
Heaven. I never realized just how much I missed all of it. And it was good to
see family again, too. I hadn’t seen them for years! Kids had grown so big since
I last saw them. I was sad I didn’t get to see everybody, but I was cherishing
every minute I spent with the family I did get to see. There were lots of hugs, tears,
laughter and we all took lots of pictures.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was just an amazing and awesome experience. It created
a lot of happy memories I will cherish for years. Same with the kids.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have not yet downloaded all of the pictures from the
trip (though you can see some of them on my <a href="https://twitter.com/dawnwilson325" target="_blank">personal Twitter account</a>!) or
pictures from the wedding but I will upload them all soon. Meanwhile, the
picture shared here is one I got from my sister on FB. It was great to see
family again, meet new family and make new friends. I was sad to leave but we
all decided that we should make plans to go out and visit more often.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So we are back home in Eugene, Oregon. I have been spending the week getting EVERYTHING unpacked, sorted and put away. We ended up with a pair of shoes and a sweater that didn't belong to us and found out they belonged to other family members! Oops! I have also tackled a mountain of laundry, restocked the house with food, and got the kids back on schedule for school and sports. Jesse is happy to be back with his basketball team again! Trevor turned in all the homework done while we were away and the people who took care of our animals were thanked and paid. We have also enjoyed sharing and looking at all of the pictures taken from the trip and the wedding. I have also been taking a little time here and there to sort through the ton of email I had waiting for me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Many thanks to the people who helped us out for this occasion: My sister, Millie, Allison, my other sister, Jeanette, and our friends Kim, Miette, Julie, Tim and Oscar. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I may have returned to Oregon, but I left my heart in
California. I guess I’m a California girl for life, no matter how long I live
in another state. I’ll be California dreaming for a very long time – at least,
until I will get to go back again. I hope that will be soon. <span> </span></span></span></div>
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<![endif]--><br />Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-3496694397915213892017-02-10T23:48:00.000-08:002017-02-10T23:49:18.319-08:00The two times that we almost lost Rowena<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My daughter, Trevor, has 2 pet rats: Salazar and Rowena. Sometimes I call Rowena "Ro." Trevor got Salazar first and then Rowena. Trevor is a huge Harry Potter fan (known as a “Potterhead”) and so Trevor wanted to get 4 rats named after the four founders of the houses of Hogwarts: Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Godric Gryffindor. So far, we just have Salazar and Rowena. Rowena is currently 1 ½ years old. <br /><br />We all love the ratties. Both my husband and I each had a pet rat when we were younger, so a pet rat is not unknown to us. We have all enjoyed their company, their quirks, their curiosities and their personalities. Rowena is certainly different from Salazar, even in the foods he eats! And while Rowena is female in the HP fandom, this Rowena we have is a male.<br /><br />One of the things we do when the rats are out of their cages is allow them to wander around on the computer desk while someone is working there. They either walk around on the desk or sit on our lap or hang out on our shoulder as we are at work on the computer. There are MANY times I have been at the desk writing while one of the rats was just chilling out near the keyboard or on my shoulder. (They LOVED going into the hood of my hoodie!) We often played classical music for them via Youtube on the computer while we had another window open with whatever we were working on.<br /><br />This is how it was a few weeks ago, when I was writing on the computer, Beethoven was playing on the speaker, and Rowena was chilling out near the console. But at one point I stopped typing and looked at him. He didn’t look right while he was breathing. I called Trevor over and asked, “Is he supposed to be breathing like that?” He was really struggling to breathe, his whole chest huffing and puffing. Trevor examined him and assumed he was fine. I assumed he was okay, too, but still, I worried.<br /><br />A few days later, Trevor informed me that she’d made an appointment for Rowena to see the vet. She did say she was concerned about his breathing but he was also acting lethargic, barely eating, barely drinking and not taking interest in anything. So we took Rowena to the vet.<br /><br />And we got some bad news.<br /><br />The vet who examined him said that Rowena either had a harsh case of pneumonia or cancer. The pneumonia was treatable, but the cancer? Well, they could try giving him medical care for it, but if it was cancer, it would spread quickly and Rowena would suffer before being cured – if that was even a possibility. (I didn’t know rats could even get cancer!) We could give Rowena antibiotics to treat the pneumonia, but if he wasn’t better in a few days, that meant it was cancer. And if it WAS cancer, it was decided that he would be put down.<br /><br />We were both very upset about this. We both sat there crying and just trying to process WHY this was happening. Rowena was so young. I DID NOT like the idea of putting him down at such a young age.<br /><br />So we took Rowena back home and started him on the antibiotics. He refused to drink the water that the medicine was in so I had to hold him while Trevor made him drink the water. She told me that I’d have to do this again tomorrow while she was at school. The plan was to give him the medicine water 4 times a day.<br /><br />So that’s what we did. And we waited.<br /><br />Thankfully, the next day, Rowena did not put up a fight when I had to give him the water. In fact, he drank it down greedily. I texted Trevor about this and she started to feel hopeful that that meant he was getting better.<br /><br />And, well, he WAS – for a while. The only problem was, the breathing problem continued. I guessed it would just take a little while longer for that to clear up.<br /><br />But the Day of Reckoning came. The day that would determine if Rowena had pneumonia or cancer.<br /><br />But since we saw an improvement, we surmised it must not be cancer. He WAS getting better. He was moving around AND eating again.<br /><br />Then sometime after THAT, I found Trevor in her room with a Q-tip in hand and removing stuff from Rowena’s ear. Later, she told me there was pus coming out of Rowena’s ear. It was his right ear. And on the right side of his head was a tiny bump.<br /><br />Now, I didn’t know about this, but when we were at the vet, the vet DID see the bump and mentioned it to Trevor. They did talk about it but I don’t remember exactly what was said. I am not sure if even “tumor” was brought up here.<br /><br />But now that it was a topic of discussion again, and I was more aware of it now, we did consider the possibility that the bump was a tumor. And if it was leaking pus, that was Very Bad.<br /><br />So we were back to keeping a watchful eye on Rowena. Meanwhile, he was still drinking the medicine water — and still having breathing problems. And now, at this point, he was starting to take a turn for the worse. Again. He once again refused to eat, became very weak and he even appeared disoriented.<br /><br />We started to assume that at this point, the bump must be a tumor and that Rowena likely had cancer. I did think it might’ve been an abscess, but I was not sure if that was possible with pus coming out of his ear. <br /><br />So it was decided that Rowena would be put down. Trevor called the vet and the appointment was set. We were all really saddened, stressed out and even a little angry. But we mostly kept it together as we made our last days with our little furry friend count.<br /><br />Today was supposed to be the day that Rowena died. Today would have been the last day that Rowena lived.<br /><br />It was a pretty sad day for a while there. I mean, the day started out good – even though it was Day 2 that my son was home from school, still sick – but it started good and then the reality of The Day set in and I started feeling pretty sad. I spent some time with Rowena. I was saddened that this was his last day alive and I just prayed for him a lot. Jesse spent time with him, too, since he was at home. We took him outside so he could experience some sunshine and walk around in the grass and explore underneath Trevor’s tree. We took A LOT of pictures. I also set up the paper bag on the table for him so he could hunker inside there (something he always loved to do) and I also let him explore a shelf of one of the bookcases. (He’s always so curious about books!) Then I just sat with him on my chest, petting him and telling him how much we loved him and that we would miss him.<br /><br />Basically, I just said goodbye to him.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse spent time with him, too. He held Rowena and talked to him. He made a paper heart colored red that said "goodbye" on it. He played some Beethoven music for Ro at the desk and also allowed him to walk along the keys on the keyboard so he could "write" something just like we do. (He wrote a very interesting something!) <br /><br />Then the time came when Trevor and her dad got home and Trevor got him ready to go to the vet. We spent time with him together giving him cuddles and saying goodbye. We took more pictures, too. It was a very sad time.<br /><br />After they left, Jesse went to play a game on the computer and I went into the bathroom to cry. (I don’t like crying in front of the kids and I knew I had to be strong for them, especially Trevor, who would hurt the most from this.) Then I came out of the bathroom thinking I was done crying but after I sat on the couch, more tears came to my eyes and I very discreetly cried a little more. I sat there pretending I was watching TV but I was really thinking about Rowena and crying about the situation.<br /><br />Then I got a text message that stopped my tears. It was from Trevor. The message was in all caps – that’s the first thing I noticed – and there were 4 of them in total. I opened them and started reading. And I started to get excited and crying out with joy.<br /><br />Apparently, Rowena was examined by another vet, and he DID NOT have cancer! The bump on his head WAS an abscess!! He also had an ear infection, a respiratory infection, AND some kind of skin infection. He was pretty much REALLY sick but not deathly ill. He COULD be treated! HE WOULD LIVE!!<br /><br />Trevor told me they were draining the abscess and starting Rowena on antibiotics to treat the infections AND help with the pain he was in. And they were going to be sending Rowena back home – ALIVE.<br /><br />I was just so very, very grateful. I kept saying “Thank you, God!” and I was so relieved and just HAPPY that Rowena would live. There was just so much gratitude and relief and joy I felt at that time.<br /><br />I was excited to see Rowena again when he was brought home, alive, and looked a lot better now that the bump was gone. He still had breathing trouble, but he was moving around more now. I once again helped when Trevor administered antibiotics and I reminded Trevor to keep tabs on when we had to give him the medicines again and also when he’d received medicine.<br /><br />But Rowena is still with us. He is still in our family. That is two times that he dodged the bullet. They say “third strike and you’re out” and I hope it will be a very long time before Death comes knocking for a third attempt to take Rowena away. In the meantime, we are going to cherish his presence in our lives even more and appreciate his company. I am so thankful he is still here!</span></span><br />Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-84466661928912110302017-02-06T14:35:00.002-08:002017-02-06T15:16:50.650-08:00This THING that happened<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This morning, my husband and I had an appointment with the school counselor at my son’s school. During the meeting, we were asked how long we had been married. I was trying to remember the exact length of time it’s been since he and I got back together, and during that time, my husband answered, “Fifteen years.”<br /><br />I sat there thinking, Wow, has it really been that long? I haven’t lived in Oregon THAT long. Our daughter is fifteen and she was not born here.<br /><br />But after some thinking more on this later – and checking the calendar – I realized that it’s actually been almost 10 years (it will be 10 years this summer). But did he know that? Or was he doing what some other people I know do, and that is acting like certain things NEVER HAPPENED. Not too long ago, when he and I celebrated our anniversary, the whole mention of the divorce that he and I went through got a whole “we do not speak of this” kinda treatment from some relatives. Like they wanted to pretend the divorce never happened.<br /><br />Here’s my question: Why? It DID happen. I know it happened. I WAS THERE!<br /><br />So, yes, the man I am married to now used to be a man I temporarily WAS NOT married to! Once upon a time, he and I were divorced. My daughter may not remember it (she told me later that she blocked it out) and maybe it’s not exactly a favorite topic of discussion with my husband’s family, but, yes, we WERE divorced once!<br /><br />Why is mentioning it a bad thing? It’s not like mentioning it is gonna make it happen again!<br /><br />But, maybe mentioning it only brings up bad memories or feelings of disappointment or whatever. Whatever!<br /><br />But I’m not going to act like it never happened. It DID happen. <br /><br />I’m just not the kind of person who likes to pretend bad things never happened. Uh, no. Bad things happen in life. THAT’S LIFE! That’s just the way it is. I’m not going to pretend I all of a sudden have amnesia and can’t remember any of them.<br /><br />Especially this thing. I don’t want to forget this part of my past. I don't want to go back to being the person that I was then or even sometime before then. I want to stay the person THAT experience made me become. Sure, that experience meant struggling to feed my child when it was just her and me living by ourselves in a city where we didn’t know anyone. Those were some very trying, difficult and scary times. I was divorced for seven months, and it was HARD. It was damn hard. But you know what? I am glad I went through it, because it made me stronger. I hated it that I had to work two jobs and even THEN for lousy pay, but I was able to see just how much of myself I could count on to provide for me and my own when we didn’t have anyone else there for us. I was able to see that I WILL step up and do what I need to do to make sure my kid is fed and has what she needs. <br /><br />I learned some really good lessons during that time of my life. I got to see who was there for us (and I mean you, Jimmy and Melissa!), and just how hard it is to be a single parent struggling to pay for everything, do everything and be everything for a child. I knew what it was like to deal with a child being hungry and only having a box of crackers in the cabinet and I knew what it was like to be afraid, DEAF, and the only person to keep myself and my child safe when there was some crazy person trying to break into the house or some bum at the window demanding we let him in. And because I was on food stamps, I know what that is like, too, and just how much a family RELIES on food stamps to feed themselves with. You know, I’m glad for it, because I have “been there, done that.” I have never since looked down at people who receive food stamps or felt they were just freeloaders looking for handouts, because I know the struggle they go through in trying to provide. And I’ve been more sympathetic to families on the street begging for money or food.<br /><br />Oh, and, of course, I had SO MUCH FUN learning how to ride a city bus! (Or not, should I say. Ugh!)<br /><br />So, you know, that is a part of my past that I kinda want to hold onto. I know it was a bad thing to happen and I know that some people got hurt, but that doesn’t mean that I want to erase it from my past. I don’t want to pretend that it never happened. And I certainly will not “erase from existence” the people who came into my life during that particular chapter (shout out to Jimmy, the Grynch guys, Heather, Kathleen, Nicole<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, Kim</span> and all the folks at the Willamette Christian Center for helping us!). I can’t believe it has been almost 11 years since I walked into that courthouse that one summer and filed those papers. And it’s been nearly 10 years since that decision was overturned. I don’t regret going back to my husband, because my daughter is happier that her dad is in her life, I have a son now who is almost 10 because of it, and my husband now treats me A LOT better than before. Sure, it was hard at first, but we made it. You know? I think on some level, he realized that he shouldn’t take the marriage for granted.<br /><br />Me? I don’t take ANYTHING or ANYONE for granted. I appreciate every single thing that has happened in my life – both the good things AND the bad things. I learned so many lessons from all the bad things that there’s no way I would ever pretend they never happened. They all taught me some VERY important lessons in life. And, they have made me stronger. <br /><br />I still see some places from that part of the past – that little house that Jen and I lived in on West 11th when it was just me and her (and the Grynch guys living next door! And where that lady who often appeared on our lawn with her lawnmower just blissfully mowing away!); the house of the guy, Mark, who lived across the street who we often chatted with; the laundromat Jen and I walked to to wash our clothes; the church we went to; the White Bird clinic to get medical assistance; the bus station; the courthouse. And when I see those places, I remember those particular times from that part of my past.<br /><br />Some of the people from my past are still in my life (like Jimmy and Tobby), and some of them are not. Some of them walked away, and some of them just disappeared. <br /><br />I remember ALL of them. Every. Single. One.<br /><br />I won’t erase them from my past, either. I am not going to pretend I never knew them or they never existed. They did exist, and some of them still exist in my life right now. They are all a part of that chapter in my past. Maybe some of them are still left there, in my past, but they’re not gone completely. They’re in my memories. They’re in my story. And this story is not going to get a rewrite.</span></span>Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-69404833880609638582017-02-05T08:35:00.002-08:002017-03-24T12:16:21.112-07:00Clearing the air<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Recently, a friend and I got to talking about a
health-related issue that I was going through. I tried to make some dietary
changes but ended up having dizzy spells and I suspected it was because of the
dietary changes. (Unfortunately, the dizzy spells have happened many times
before and usually when I tried to do this very thing. Sigh!) Somewhere along
our conversation, though, I think she got confused about something, because she
got something wrong about what I was saying. I don’t know where that came from
or how that happened, but there it was.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After I realized she had made this mistake, I was trying
to figure out how it had happened. I really couldn’t figure that out, but I
realized, you know, this was just a misunderstanding. You know the saying, “What
we have here is a failure to communicate”? I think that might have happened
here. Maybe I was not communicating with her effectively. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In any event, I knew I had to clear the air with her and
let her know that she had gotten something about our conversation wrong. She had
misunderstood what I said, I think. Or maybe she later interpreted it wrong.
Who knows! (Everybody’s perspective is different and there are SO MANY times
people have taken things I have said the wrong way or taken mistakes I have
made and twisted them around to make me look like I intentionally made that
mistake or am an evil person. There was one time a friend and I had just one
such misunderstanding and she really let me have it via text messaging. Later,
after we had both cooled off, we both cleared the air, I was able to explain my
side of the story and she explained her side of the story and we realized it
was a misunderstanding and made up. We are still friends!)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, yeah. I realized I had to clear the air with my
friend. She IS my friend and I want to keep my friendship with her. And it was
not a good idea to allow her to continue thinking that this wrong
interpretation of our conversation was the RIGHT one. I had to let her know she’d
made a mistake!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But….I didn’t want to. I knew if I said something, she
might be embarrassed or feel stupid. She might take my pointing out the mistake
the wrong way.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it’s not like I was doing anything bad by pointing
out the mistake! Like I said, it was a bad idea to allow her to continue
thinking this particular thing when it was not the CORRECT particular thing! I
had to let her know that was not true!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, finally, at one point, I just did a mental about-face
and told myself, “You have to SAY something!”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I had to let my friend know that there was a
misunderstanding. I had to GENTLY let her know that what she thought I was
saying was NOT what I was saying. That she had somehow misunderstood me. And
that’s exactly what I said in my email to her this morning: “I think there has
been a misunderstanding."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I did clear the air with her, but I didn’t do it in a way
that was blatant or harsh. I gently let her know that what she thought I said
was NOT what I had said. (And before we go into psychological debates, let me
just say that I did not need to review my conversation with her to let her know
that that was not what I had said – unlike that OTHER mistake that is
going to be hanging over my head for the rest of my natural life!!!!!) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After I sent that email off, I actually felt better that
I had cleared the air with my friend. I was relieved to have finally tackled
this issue and get the truth out into the open. And if she really is my friend,
she would understand. She would know that I was not trying to be condescending
and I was not trying to make her look bad. We have never fought (though that
COULD happen someday because that is the true test of friendship – if we
forgive each other, we really ARE friends!) and we basically get along well. I love
her, really. She’s an awesome friend and I hope to keep my friendship with her.
And if the friendship is sound, this would not be a deal-breaker with her. (I
have never known her to act all high and mighty about what she perceives or
what she thinks, so I don’t think it will be.) But the bottom line is, I felt a
huge weight lift off of me after I sent that email. A problem had come up
between us and I finally took action with it. I was really nervous about doing
so, but I couldn’t just let that SIT THERE! I had to clear the air with her, and
I did.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And you know what? Getting THAT particular thing resolved
and taken care of helped me to feel a little bit better about being able to tackle
OTHER sticky issues with my friend, should any of that stuff come up. </span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-27816843210033447122017-02-03T22:30:00.001-08:002017-05-23T22:06:18.808-07:00The big scare<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0VyRV0r_K8Dp4ckDyYobitxnQ5sqUVx0BVi7hZ9FWqhC_pBKYeLQOfFg6u286dA2Nl7c1VTkSiBDktjkgKMqopGo67gTn97iOhNnaM2aqNpyJDnbgituAiSP4tZIs1o1Xu6c/s1600/16387062_10208115682435965_1593167216573132621_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0VyRV0r_K8Dp4ckDyYobitxnQ5sqUVx0BVi7hZ9FWqhC_pBKYeLQOfFg6u286dA2Nl7c1VTkSiBDktjkgKMqopGo67gTn97iOhNnaM2aqNpyJDnbgituAiSP4tZIs1o1Xu6c/s320/16387062_10208115682435965_1593167216573132621_n.jpg" width="177" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Rowena at the vet</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Earlier this week, my daughter asked me to give her a
ride so that she could take one of her pet rats, Rowena, to the vet. Before
then, I had noticed that Rowena was breathing differently. It really did not
look like he was breathing normally. I came to find out he was also lethargic
and not really eating so much, either. So I agreed to take Trevor to the vet so that
the rat could be examined.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We got bad news from the vet. We were told that Rowena
either had a harsh case of pneumonia or cancer. The vet advised that the best
thing to do would be to euthanize him if it was cancer because the treatment period
would be long and he would suffer from that disease during that time. She also
said they had medicine for Rowena to take for the next couple of days to treat
the pneumonia – if that was what he was indeed sick with. In the event the medicine did
not help him, it meant he had cancer. That would mean putting him down – which
is ultimately the choice that Trevor made. She did NOT want Rowena to suffer. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We were pretty upset about this news and crying a little
about it. Rowena had only been with us for a year and a half. We got him when he
was a baby. It was hard to accept the possibility of losing him so soon.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I convinced Trevor to try the medicine first and see if
Rowena got better. So they gave us the medicine and we let them know we would
schedule an appointment if we had to go with euthanasia.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">That evening, I ran to the pet store to buy more rat
food, rat bedding and also rat treats. (I was feeling pretty sad and wanted to
spoil Rowena.) Also, Trevor put the
medicine in Rowena’s water and we just hoped for the best. Jesse was very upset
by this news and we spent the evening huddled around our furry friend.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now all we could do was wait to see if the medicine worked.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, Rowena would not drink the water. We had to
force him to drink it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The next morning, I was really upset about all this going
on. I was sad but also angry. WHY did this have to happen?? Rowena was so
young. It wasn’t fair. We were not ready to let him go and we loved him so
much. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later that day, I had to give Rowena the water while
Trevor was at school. This time, I did not have to force him to drink the
water. He drank the water on his own. He even wanted more water when I tried to
move the bottle away. He also ate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was very heartened by this and let Trevor know. She was
also excited and thought that Rowena was doing better. Indeed, he was. He still
had trouble breathing but he was eating and drinking water now and moving
around.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later on in the day, Trevor told me Rowena was doing more
better. I was so glad!</span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today was the day we would have had to decide whether or
not Rowena would be euthanized. Thankfully, we did not have to make that decision; he is recovering, and that means he
doesn’t have cancer. He is doing better and the medicine is helping him. Thank
God! (And thank you to everyone on FB who prayed for him and sent good vibes!)
Still, Trevor wants to take him back to the vet next week to get examined again
and just to make sure that Rowena is in the all-clear. I am just relieved he is
not as bad as he was before. </span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are all relieved Rowena is getting better now. This
scare really created a lot of tension, stress and anxiety for us. I was really
NOT looking forward to having to say goodbye to our furry friend just yet. I am
so very grateful he is getting better and getting his strength back.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope the next time we take Rowena to the vet, we will
have better news about his health. </span></span></div>
Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-37597828649760079172017-01-18T23:00:00.000-08:002017-01-18T23:03:15.475-08:00Notes on vehicles<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This morning, as I looked for a place to park at my son’s school when I was dropping him off, I frowned when I noticed that, once again, someone had parked their car in a “pause parking” spot and left their vehicle. We’re not allowed to leave the car when we are in pause parking. I had hoped to park on that side of the parking lot because it would’ve been safer to let my son out of the van instead of his side being where there is oncoming traffic. In the event I’m in such a position, though, I usually have to shove my car door open against the bushes, climb out with branches sticking in my hair and sticking into my back, and act as a barrier for him to pass through on my side to safely cross the lot, where a sign holder is waiting. It’s not the end of the world if I have to park there, though, but it’s still nice when I don’t have to.<br /><br />And I guess another parent was miffed about someone leaving their parked car in pause parking, too, because I noticed him saying something to me after I watched Jesse go into school and he was walking to that car with a piece of paper in his hand. I watched as he left this piece of paper – possibly an angry note? – on that car and then he got into his car to leave. <br /><br />As I left the school parking lot, I was wondering what that note said. I also thought how very rare it was for me to see someone leaving a note on a car.<br /><br />Well, later on that morning, I ended up leaving a note on a car, too – my own!<br /><br />When I drove Trevor to school later this morning, I noticed there were city workers clearing away tree debris on the ground from when branches had fallen from trees. I made a mental note to take an alternate route on my way home. (I’d rather not drive through areas under construction or where city workers are busy doing things because I don’t want to hold them up or be a problem – or deal with the VERY LARGE vehicles or traffic!). Everything else was fine as I drove Trev to school and dropped her off. But as I was driving home, the steering wheel started to jerk left and right. This was actually something that happened recently as I was driving it before, but it was when there was ice, snow and mush on the roads. I had talked about this with my husband and we both just chalked it up to road conditions. But now it was happening AGAIN! I was confused. Why was this happening? The snow was mostly gone and the ice was definitely gone. It had been only been raining that morning.<br /><br />Well, I came to find out that it didn’t have ANYTHING to do with road conditions and EVERYTHING to do with the van!<br /><br />I soon started experiencing a clunking sensation coming from the engine. Then I smelled a foul odor and the speedometer suddenly went berserk. The van started to slow down. Pushing on the brake did nothing and pushing on the gas only irritated the engine even more. <br /><br />Realizing what was going on, I tried to move the van off to the side of the road – but it only got so far. When the van died, the front was pointed towards the side and the back was sticking out, blocking oncoming traffic. I tried to turn on the emergency lights to let people know I was broken down but nothing was working at that point.<br /><br />So I sat there, feeling bummed that the van had broken down and that I could not get it home before it died (a feat I HAD managed to accomplish with one other car!). Fortunately, it broke down a couple of blocks from my house, and I thought I might be able to push it home. But when I tried putting it into neutral to push it home, the van would NOT move. It was completely locked right where it was. I tried texting my neighbor for help but didn’t get an answer. Then as I was starting to Google what else I could try doing, I noticed someone stop at the Stop sign near where I was parked and ask if I needed help. I explained that I was having trouble pushing the car to get it out of the way. She promptly got out of her car and I told her I couldn’t move the van at all. She offered to push and instructed me to set it up in such a way where she could get the van to move. As I was doing this, I noticed another car stop behind hers and a man jumped out then ran over to help, too. All three of us worked together and, eventually, the van was completely pushed off the road and onto the side. <br /><br />I thanked both of them as they left. The man checked to make sure I had a phone before he left. I was so grateful to them for their help! (Eugeneans are AWESOME!) (This was the second time two people offered to help when I had to push a car – the last time was when I ran out of gas and we pushed it to a gas station.)<br /><br />Then I sat there, trying to figure out what to do. My neighbor still had not answered my text. My husband was at home, sleeping. I didn’t have membership with Triple A to call for help and I was trying to think of if I could text a friend for help.<br /><br />But then I thought, WHAT help? What could possibly be done now?<br /><br />I had to think. Should I try again to push it home? Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. We’d been lucky to even get it off the street – and home was 2 blocks away. Should I text a friend for help? But what could a friend do, short of driving me home? I didn’t need a ride home – I could walk it. A friend might be able to get the van towed home, but I wasn’t sure if I was up to staying with the van for who knows how long waiting for a tow truck. But what if it didn’t need a tow truck? What if all it needed was as a simple fix and I could get it running again?<br /><br />The best thing to do would be to walk home and ask my husband to come look at it. He is VERY GOOD at fixing cars. (Me? Not so much.) <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Then I realized that I couldn’t leave the van here like this. I mean, what if a police officer came along and thought it was abandoned? Or what if the owner of the property saw a suspicious vehicle parked like this and reported it? I would have to leave a note.<br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I checked my phone to see that once again I had no messages, then took out of my purse a small notebook and pen. On a piece of paper I wrote “BROKE DOWN -- WALKING TO GET HELP” and I left it on the van.<br /><br />Then I started to walk home but then I noticed something on the ground. I stood there to get a good look at it. It really looked like a metal part of a car. I moved it with my shoe to confirm it was indeed a hard thing then bent over to pick it up. It slipped right out of my fingers and I noticed it was covered with oil.<br /><br />Yep, I sighed. Part of a car. It must’ve come off when the van was in the street, breaking down. I grabbed a paper towel I had in my pocket and used it to pick up the metal round thingy. I cradled it in the paper towel since it was all oily and put it on the van’s windshield, at the bottom. <br /><br />Then I walked home. When I got home, I woke my husband up and told him what happened. We walked back to inspect the van and I told him about the part I found. He looked at it and then he found another part on the street. We checked the surrounding area to make sure nothing else had fallen off of the engine then he took a look at the van. He told me he suspected what it was then that he would come back with a tarp so he could get a better look. We walked back home and I started to get my breakfast as he left. When he came back later, he told me it was the CV shaft that had broken and that we would have to get it towed home. He also explained there were two ways it could’ve been broken and that a professional mechanic would have to look at it to determine what exactly was wrong. So he took a shower and he was going to leave to go arrange for the van to be towed to a shop. Unfortunately, he had car trouble too (ugh!!) but after THAT was taken care of, he left. Later, when he came back, he confirmed the van was now at a shop and that we’d learn either tomorrow or Friday what was wrong with it and how much it would cost to get repaired.<br /><br />So it looks like I am now without transportation for a while. Who knows for how long. My husband will be driving the kids to school until I can get another car to drive. I don’t know about Jesse’s basketball practices, though. Or even his gymnastics class, if I am without transportation for that long. And although I had no idea how long I’ll be without a car, I emailed Jesse’s basketball coach to let him know the situation and that Jesse won’t be able to make it to basketball practice this week. He has a game on Saturday and my husband will have to take him to that. (Good grief, this is the SECOND TIME I have had a transportation issue interfere with Jesse getting to basketball practice!!)<br /><br />But hopefully, it won’t be like this for too long. Hopefully I can get new transportation soon. Or the van won’t cost an arm and a leg to fix. We have only had the van for a year and while I don’t mind if we have to say goodbye to it, it would be nice if it had lasted longer. I hope that will be the case.</span></span>Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32006215.post-70934470381434451082017-01-17T08:43:00.001-08:002017-01-17T08:43:48.816-08:00Might as well face it, I'm addicted to books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxgohI09lpnIxjb9obLagOR6e7T1XwbcrWeSvpI6N-w6lrFQSPGNrA_DlSFN6tah3gM0B_8pyomfDeUWAkF7u2HBSrdzU3OIUFeR5-WClK4KFp7TCgLWRb67vEMsfSfBXp1tA/s1600/i-heart-books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxgohI09lpnIxjb9obLagOR6e7T1XwbcrWeSvpI6N-w6lrFQSPGNrA_DlSFN6tah3gM0B_8pyomfDeUWAkF7u2HBSrdzU3OIUFeR5-WClK4KFp7TCgLWRb67vEMsfSfBXp1tA/s320/i-heart-books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One thing that I like to do on Facebook is share a
picture of “the two books I started reading today.” Up until this year, I was
always reading two books at one time: A novel and a nonfiction book. If I
happened to start reading two new books on the same day, I would share a
picture of what books they were.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My reading habits have changed this year. I am now
reading THREE books at one time – a novel, a nonfiction book, and an ebook. For
the longest time, I have been trying to figure out how to read all of the
ebooks that I own. I couldn’t just let them sit there on the hard drive,
collecting virtual dust. I wanted to read the ones I haven’t gotten to yet –
months or even years after buying them. (I know, I’m terrible!) Even so, if I
start reading two print books at the same time (which I probably will next
week), I will share a picture of them. Can’t share a picture of the ebook, of
course, but that info is shared through Goodreads. (If only it was possible to
list more than one book I am currently reading on Goodreads! But one of the
books I am currently reading is a book for Night Owl Reviews and I can’t put my
review of that book on there.) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It has been an interesting experience reading three books
at one time. Of course, sometimes there are days I can’t read all 3 in one day,
but I do try to read all 3 of them in a day. Nevertheless, this has become my
current reading routine. If anything, it will help me to get through more books
faster!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The three books I am currently reading are:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Hellknight</i> by Liane Merciel (NOR book)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop
Talking</i> by Susan Cain</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically</i> by
Carolyn Howard-Johnson (the ebook that is another book I am going to review)</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In one part of <i>Hellknight</i> that I came across recently, a
character who was waiting to see someone passed the many hours away getting
comfy in a chair and reading one of the books he had in his library. I could
only smile as I read that, thinking that would be the exact same thing that I
would do. This is why I like to have a book with me wherever I go; I can just start reading while I wait! I just love books and love to read!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In fact, I spent a lot of time reading yesterday. I didn’t
just read the three books; I also read 2 newspapers and half of a magazine. (I
was on a reading frenzy!) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And there was something else that I was reading, too: A
page in a book that my son had read.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last night, as I sat at the desk waiting for Jesse to
finish doing something, I picked up a WARRIORS book that he’d left there and
opened it to the first page of Chapter 7. And started reading it. I really
liked what I read so when I noticed that Jesse was done, I held up the book and
said, “This is awesome!” (As it was, it was hard for me to stop reading! Now I
know why the WARRIORS series is so popular.) He walked over to see what book it
was then started laughing. “Mom, this isn’t the first book,” he said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“So?” I asked, shrugging. It is not unusual for me to
start reading a book in a series that is not the first book. “I was just
checking it out.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“This is the fifth book,” Jesse said. “You should start
with the first book.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I studied the book and its spine. It was indeed the fifth
book in that particular series. I told Jesse that I was just curious about it
and that I would definitely start reading the first book real soon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">He looked at me and asked, “Why not read it now?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I chuckled and explained that I am currently reading 3
books at one time and I don’t know if I can squeeze in a fourth one.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">He asked me when I read the books and I told him, “Morning,
noon and night.” The anal numbers person in me was satisfied with this answer,
thinking it was a good balance of reading time in one day. (After I get the gym
membership again, I hope to also have that balance with my workouts!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse thought a minute then said, “You could read this in
the afternoon.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I thought about that, then reminded him that I was
actually planning to finish reading the Harry Potter series before starting
another series. Or even the Percy Jackson series! (And, YES, I am actually
someone who has NOT read the entire Harry Potter series yet!) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse ran to get the first book in the series then he pretty
much shoved the book into my hands and said, “Just read it!” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was so set on me adding this book to my reading
routine that he grabbed a Post-It Note and a pen and wrote “Read In The Afternoon!!!!!”
on it then placed it on the book. To show he was serious, he even put the book
onto the stack of books I am currently reading.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, that settles it, then!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But because I like to start new things on a Monday (I did
kinda mention I was anal about my routines, right?), I decided to start reading
4 books at a time next week. On NEXT Monday, the 23<sup>rd</sup>. I am almost
finished reading two books as it is and, if I keep up with the way I am reading
them now, I should be done with them by the weekend. So I will have THREE books
ready to start reading next week, which will be three of four books I am
reading at one time.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hm, will it now be “the three books I started reading
today” that I share on Facebook? I wonder. On the plus side, I will then be reading a nice balance of two novels and two nonfiction books (one of them for review and the other for research).</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, it looks like one book I start reading next week is for research
purposes, plus another novel AND another novel: The first WARRIORS book in the
first series. (Sorry, J.K. I’ll get to those remaining Harry Potter books
someday!) And I'll be adding a nonfiction ebook to that mix, too.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So as of next week, I will be reading four books at one
time. Instead of three books at one time.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This should be interesting. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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<![endif]--><br />Dawn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06291423272908722351noreply@blogger.com0