Happy Birthday Lucas!!

Dashboard Cookies, gotta try it! . . .

So in today's Oregonian there is a very resourceful article. With our weather being in the 100's for the next couple of days . . and with the prediction that today's high temperature of 107 should break the all time record, this could be a fun project for Mom's and kids alike. It's called "Yes, Virginia it is soo hot that you CAN bake cookies on the dashboard of your car!" Well, in my Nissan Murano I have a dashboard that is wide enough & deep enough to easily accommodate a large size pizza box as my son so readily suggested the first week I brought it home from the car lot. So in today's paper these are the baking suggestions . . .
First - the temperature outside must be at least 95 degrees (today would be perfect), AND pick a recipe with an egg substitute instead of the real deal (don't want to be sick in the bathroom with salmonella poisoning!). Park so the dash will get direct sun for a few hours. Follow a "vegan" cookie recipe (remember, raw eggs may contain salmonella and a car might not get hot enough to kill it). Put a towel under the baking sheet to protect the dashboard. Spoon cookie dough onto the baking sheet. Close the doors and wait 2 to 3 hours. Don't expect cookies to be brown, since the sugar won't caramelize. The cookies are done when completely firm. Now, even if they don't taste that good, wouldn't it be cool just to say you did it . . . mmmmmm better than new car smell ;)

Yeah . . now it's mine!

The mascot at the high school I work at is the "Viking". Since I started working there 13 years ago, I have been collecting various Viking things to "spirit" up my work area. When I transferred into the Athletic Office about 8 years ago I really got into it. Our former Athletic Director had an impressive collection of various wooden carved Norwegian looking Vikings, and I sort of inherited those when he retired. Since then I have been adding to the collection. When I go to garage sales, antique shops or am just out browsing around in general I sort of always have my eye out for something unique or new that I don't already have. The high school kids get a kick out of looking at my work area with all my different Viking things, Viking hats, books about Vikings, a big Viking nutcracker, Viking face mask, Viking Barbie (now that was a find!), one of their favorites is my SpongeBob Viking. So you might imagine my complete glee when as I was shopping for a toy for my grandson's 2nd birthday I find the perfect gift from Grandma. A YoGabba Viking ship with little YoGabba Viking characters inside. I purchased it, wrap it up and have it ready to go to his party in the next couple of weeks . . . UNTIL I happened to stop by their house the other evening and as we are sitting in the backyard watching him play by his little pool . . I spot the YoGabba Viking ship with the little people floating in his wading pool. So I tell my son, "I just got that for him the other day . . thinking it would be a good gift from Grandma . . darn." . . oh well, back to the drawing board for a gift . . . but hey!! now I have a new item to display on my desk. . Oh . . yeah . . the kids are really going to like this!

Ahhh such a nice Daddy . . .

Not sure it makes me want to run out and buy a Sprite though!

Painting the house . . .

We are suppose to be on vacation these 2 weeks but it's the only time we could really get this done. Painting the outside of the house is a big project, but since we are more of the do-it-yourselfer types it's the more affordable way to go. We ordered all of our paint from a local Sherwin Williams store. They helped us figure out how much paint we needed, they also sold us some funky gadget that has the tape already on the paper for covering windows, trim etc. for overspray and of course the "free" paint stir sticks. So hubby was on a mission yesterday taking down all of the light fixtures, doorbell, and covering every window in plastic. The inside of our house right now feels completely claustraphobic . . there is only one door we can escape out from that doesn't tear paper that has been carefully taped in place. Today begins the spraying . . Dale all dressed like the Intel man in his white suit and mask will start spraying as I give needed supervision . . . and he gives me dirty looks, ha!. Our yard looks like a complete disaster with everything moved out away from the house . . and it's driving us both crazy . . so the sooner this gets finished the better. Tomorrow we will start on the trim. Keeping everything the same colors as they were before, I wasn't ready to make a big change this time around. When I compare what our neighbor paid to have his house painted professionaly last week $4000.00 . yikes!! to our bill for the paint/supplies and sprayer rental $550.00. Even if it does take a couple days longer to do . . . I guess that's just the HDTV in us!!

Fun with the grandsons this summer! . . .

Grama has been enjoying some quality time with the grandsons since summer arrived. A couple weekends ago we went camping at Barview with Chad, Nicole, Lucas & Andy. Weather was not the greatest, except we did have Saturday that we managed to stay dry and spend some time on the beach and in Rockaway. Lucas LOVES to camp and enjoys being outside all day long. He especially likes to ride his little quad around and eat yummy camping food. We have noticed that he has a crush on Andy's girlfriend "SAREWAH" (aka Sarah) and enjoyed being tossed in the air until he nearly wore everybody out. Grama especially enjoyed the snuggles by the campfire when he was getting real tired at night.

Brayden came to stay with Grandma for the day on Friday. We had lots of fun playing, going shopping at Target and we made a stop at McDonalds where he ate his lunch that mom prepared (absolutely loves strawberries!), plus he got to nibble on Grandma's chicken nuggets which he loved. Then it was out to the play structure to climb on the slide and he was totally facinated watching all of the kids.

Pretty good summer so far!

So he went and did it . . .

What's a Mom to do? In conspiracy with his father to boot!. . now HE wants one again too. He bought himself a motorcycle. What is it with boys and motorcycles anyway?? "Hey Mom . . you guys gonna be home this weekend?" . . "Yeah" . . "Well, I thought I might come by and show you something" . . "OK, we will be here" . . . So in he pulls, with a chopper. It does look nice and all, it sounds very loud and rumbles like a Harley but it's a Honda. He is grinning ear to ear . . but Mom is not. I don't like motorcycles . . they are way too scary. Dale road a Honda for a number of years that belonged to my brother Phil . . I went on maybe 2 rides the entire time he owned it. One time around the block, the other when he tried to take me out to Hagg Lake on it and I squeezed his middle so tight that he had fingerprint bruises, we turned around 1/2 way there. And apparently, I lean the wrong way . . you are suppose to lean with the bike . . not the other way in an effort to save your life. So I am a motorcycle passenger failure . . which is perfectly fine with me. Dale says, "You should be proud of him he took the motorcycle safety class that he didn't have to take, it's going to be cheaper on insurance and gas than his truck was, it will be fine just quit worrying." Aaarrrghhh . . . Easier said than done you co-conspirator! boys!!

Time for the Class Reunion . . .

It happens every year I will get a call in the office. "This is so-and-so I am from the class of 19 -whatever, do you have any contact information on members of our class?, Do you know if our class is having a reunion this summer?" The answer to that is no. Unless you would like to enter our fireproof vault and go through each huge notebook to locate individual student transcripts from the 60's, 70's, 80's and part of the 90's (pre-computer age) to find their address at the time of graduation. Once you walk across the stage and receive that diploma in their hand, we don't keep a compiled list of addresses. Usually the high school office doesn't hear about upcoming reunions, we refer the call to the local newspaper. "Oh" they say. "We just figured the high school kept up on that stuff". It's normally 99% the responsibility of the senior class president to initiate any class reunions and to maintain an ongoing up-to-date contact list. Thanks in part to Classmates. com, Facebook and MySpace news of class reunions begin to spread like wildfire. I bring this up because Josh & Dani have their 10 year reunion this weekend, my how time flies.

Here were my observations at the reunions I attended -

10 year reunion - Everybody still primarily mingled with their high school friends/clicks (as we called them). Lots of bragging or posturing about careers and kids. Really good attendance at this reunion from the Friday night classmates only, the big dinner on Saturday and golf/picnic on Sunday. Some girls already had 4-5 kids (primarily the Mormon ones). Many guys were balding already and many wallflower types had become real beauties (according to my husband who I had to smack a couple times for staring).

20 year reunion - Not as many in attendance, but a few who came made it their summer vacation from out of state. Lots of high school sweethearts who had married were now divorced. Some were already grandparents. The guys that were balding before, were now working on potbellies. The gals (to me) seemed to look even better, but you could definately tell that hair coloring was happening to alot of us. My biggest disappointment was that alot of my close friends from high school didn't attend. Most all of them live locally, so that bummed me out. This reunion was really fun. I think people were much more comfortable in their skin and where they were in their lives, no need for one upmanship. My favorite story from this reunion was standing next to a former classmate (guy) who had been married and divorced from a gal in our class. She had since remarried some Attorney from Portland and brought her new husband to the reunion with her. She was all decked out in a beautiful dress, looking very shapely and "hot" as my husband said. As I spoke to the classmate he began telling me a bit about their divorce when suddenly he began staring at his EX . . I could tell he was looking at her chest. I just sort of smiled slightly as he proceeded to tell me "She didn't have those when I was married to her". . oh my gawd it was hilarious, apparently she had gotten a little plastic surgery since the divorce . . we laughed it was a good time.

30 year reunion - I didn't attend and I regret it. I heard from a number of people that it was the best one yet. It was local and there was really no excuse for not attending. I have compiled a list of the gals that I hung out with during those 4 years of high school and I am going to definately call them all to attend the 35th. I guess as we get older we have reunions closer together as people begin to kick the bucket sooner. OH MY GAWD!! our 35th will be next year . . . geezz I'm getting old. Be ready gals the call is coming!!!

All aboard, it's Pear country! . . .

Yesterday we took a trip on the Mt. Hood Railroad. We had received a gift certificate at Christmas so decided to use it for their Brunch train. Upon arriving at the depot at about 10:15am and checking in we had about 45 minutes to wander in downtown Hood River. It was a perfect sunny day for grabbing a cup of coffee and browsing the downtown shops. We discovered Hood River is really a cool town. Lot's of bike shops, eclectic kitchenware & clothing shops, lots of places selling windsurfing gear and the outfits to go with that gear. A McMenamins type Historical hotel, a few brew pubs, lots of coffee shops with beautiful hanging flower baskets out front. It's weird sometimes how you judge a town that you quickly drive by on a freeway frequently and it's nothing like you thought it would look like. As we boarded for our train trip, which was a total of 4 hours that included a delicious 4 course brunch, we discovered what is hidden from freeway view of the "real" Hood River. As our train climbed back behind town, headed toward the halfway point to the town of Parkdale our conductor gave us a brief history lesson. Hood River is the "Pear Capital" of the world . . it's true, we passed acres and acres and acres of gorgeous pear and cherry orchards. There are a number of fruit processing plants that we traveled by that have been in business since the 30's.As far as you could see there were trees, with the beautiful backdrop of Mt. Hood. We learned to make pear wine that when the fruit is very small on the branch, they place a wine bottle over the fruit so it continues to grow inside the wine bottle. When it is harvested at a certain size, they send the wine bottles to vintners that fill them with pear wine. The fruit is forever preserved in the bottle and apparently if you are a fan of pear wine, it is the best you can buy. This is a trip that is well worth the fare, especially if you can catch a sunny Oregon day as we did. So tell your friends and visitors to Oregon, take a relaxing trip on the Mt. Hood Railroad.

New design, same old me . . .

Oh lord . . . it's taken me about 2 hours but I finally came up with a new design for my blog. I was brave and moved outside of the basic Blogger "classic" templates menu. Browsed the web for free blog templates, saved, copied, pasted and wah lah!!. For all you computer geeks out there this would be a very simple task I know, but for me not so much. I was scared that I would lose everything that I've posted over the last couple of years, but it still seems to be there. Lost some of my items down one column of the page. Oh well, it will give me something to do in redesigning it again. I've really been slacking on my blogging. There has been lots going on, just not finding the time to sit and gabb about it. Perhaps my renovation of the webpage will motivate me, we'll see!

Congrats! FG Grads!

Today's the day!! . . . before you know it your reunion will be here . . Congrats class of 2009!

"The greatest danger to the world is not the bad people, but it's the good people who don't speak out" . . . Hamilton Jordan

You know it's going to happen . . .

Some days you just need a Martini . . .

This week at school is crazy!!! Our last week for Seniors. I'm frantically printing a gazillion certificates for the spring sports athletes and the senior awards coming up, shipping trophies to the engraver, retirement party organizing, preparing for the huge awards assembly on Friday, contacting presenters and speakers, the staff golf scramble, . . . . aaahhhh! I want to hide! . . But first I have to share a "drink" find with you. My niece sells this product through one of those home party companies, it's called Tastefully Simple. They sell food and drink items online, through parties or their catalog. They have a fantastic beer bread and really great sauces (especially Teriyaki & Apricot dipping sauce) YUM! Anyway, on the order form was a product called "Mango Breeze Margarita Mix"

. . . but instead of Tequila or Rum as they recommend, I added Absolut Citron Vodka to the container. HELLOOOO!!!!!!! it's absolutely delicious!!! So as this week has been overly booked and busy . . I enter my kitchen and remove the container from the freezer to scoop some of the instant frozen stress relief and gracefully place it in my glass . . . take a sip . . . and all the world is good.

Happy Birthday Brayden! . . .

Who are all these people and why are they all singing to me??

"Hey, Daddy can I take it out and ride it now?"

"This eating cake is hard work."

"Taking some pool time with my friends"

Great party Mom & Dad!!

First you like them . . . then they screw up.

The NBA playoffs. Not sure why but lately I have been sucked into watching some of the recent playoff games (I suppose it's because I don't control the remote). I think it started with following the Blazers this past season and when they were eliminated we just sort of got caught up with who's still in it. It's weird how you can really like a player, whether it's his talent, charisma, or looks (oops, I didn't say that!), then they go and do something stupid, like cheat on their wife, beat up their girlfriend, have dog fights on their property, take steroids, or do something else illegal. Then you as a fan have to re-evaluate your loyalty to that player. Case in point - the Lakers. I have never really been a Laker fan, but when Kobe Bryant first came on the scene I admired his talent, charisma and thought he was a good looking kid. Then he was a stupid idiot and cheated on his wife, so now I have a different opinion of him. So makes it easier to root for the opposing team. Even though who knows, they probably have criminals on that team too. I will mention in a group setting that I might like a particular player whether its a football, baseball or whatever player. It usually won't be too long before I hear "He's a wife beater" "WHAT?","Yep, was arrested a couple years ago". . . crap . . now I can't like him anymore. Then again, who am I to judge, but really don't we all? That's why it's nice when there are the good guys . . like my all time fav basketball player Karl Malone, hmmm . . another name comes to mind . . Joe Montana!! I might have to go into therapy if I hear he did anything wrong. Oh . . and be quiet guys! I know he looks like Barry Manilow, but that's not a crime.

Raise your big toe and repeat after me . . .

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge

As a member of the Sisterhood, I pledge with summer nearly here to follow the rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes:

• I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.
• I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free.
• I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.
• I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.
• I will shave the hairs off my big toe.
• I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.
• If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.
• I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.
• I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.
• I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.
• I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.
• I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.
• I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $20 or $25 and worth EVERY penny).
• I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear... nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.

There is nothing more beautiful . . .

Than a cemetery on Memorial Day. So many flags . . so many fresh flowers. A place known for it's solitude and silence becomes a place of men & women in uniforms, waves, hugs, stories and reminiscing. It's nice when people come to remember . . .

Now why didn't I look at the street number?

Well, it happened. I went into Ptown today to do some errands. I am still hunting down gift certificates for our staff retirees for a reception next week. I drive into town with some ideas, go around the block a couple times on Burnside around Powell's Book Store trying to find a parking space, can't and just go a few blocks up and over into a parking garage. This particular garage was charging $5/day, which I didn't think was bad from what other garages seemed to be charging (ie. $8.50-$10/day). I park, and start heading to Powell's. The weather today was absolutely perfect for wandering around NW Portland. Lots of people were out and about enjoying the day. So I get to Powells, do some book browsing and purchase a gift certificate. Then I work my way to Henry's Tavern and purchase a gift card there. My last stop after wandering around at one of my favorite kitchen stores Sur La Table, was to stop at the Deschutes Brewery and pick up a gift certificate there. Mission accomplished! now back to the car. Start heading in the direction that the car is and . . uh . . no car . . no parking garage . . go a couple more blocks over . . uh . . still no parking garage . . Crap! I have no idea what street the parking garage is on. I didn't look at the street signs when I took off. Have you ever had that feeling that you are going to be walking around for hours . . trying to find your car? . . ok . . maybe you haven't. Sh&t! . . now what?? ok . . stay calm. Remember the $5/day sign . . sandwich board on the side walk . . find the sign. . . how much longer until it gets dark?? this is Burnside . . Crap! So . . this is what Altzeimer's feels like? it sucks! Wholly cow!!! YIPPEEE! . . there is the sign!!! Yay!!! Ha! . . now how stupid would that be to lose your car in Portland . . . uh yeah . . I know very stupid. But I didn't !!!!

Possible handbook revision . . .

Everybody has to take care of business when nature calls. At work there is a restroom available for staff members only. I usually just pop into the one closest to our office which happens to be the one in the main commons area. I learn about alot of things when I go to the girls restroom during the school day. For example:

• When two girlfriends are in side by side stalls they don't care who else is in the restroom, they carry on a personal conversation, back and forth about whatever and do not miss a beat, no matter what the topic is.
• The restroom has become the new locker room apparently. Girls are constantly getting dressed for PE or sports in the public restroom, instead of the girls locker room . . I am stepping over people to get to the toilet . . arrrghhh! I asked them, "why don't you get dressed in the locker room?" "because it's too crowded in there". and it's not in here . . oh brother.
• Teenage girls have to have their face 1 inch away from the mirror when they are applying makeup, fixing their hair or working on a zit.
• No matter how many times they fluff up their hair with their fingers, they need to do it one more time.
• Girls have gotten 100% better about not leaving graffiti in the bathroom stalls than back in the 70's, not much good reading anymore . . .
• You will hear gossip in the restroom, even when they see you walk in the door . . "Hey girls . . don't talk that way about so and so !" . . oh there it is . . . the famous eye roll . .
• Girls do wash their hands, I have to give them credit for that.
• When you are sitting and doing your business . . don't fret when you begin to hear a strange noise . . tick . .tick ..tictictic .. tick . . tictic .. tick .. tick, it is the girl in the stall next to you sending text messages while sitting on the toilet . . oh my gawd!!??? Doesn't anybody just go to the bathroom anymore?

Excuse me? It's how much did you say . . . .

I am not a golfer. My involvement with golf consists of being the person who drives the cart and delivers refreshments (typically at our staff golf tournament). People that golf seem to be having fun, but it's not for me. I tried to swing a club a couple of times and it was not comfortable, easy or fun . . as I slammed the club (after much instruction) into the grass and nearly dislocated my shoulder.


As our school year whines down we (a couple of the secretaries) are responsible (other duties as assigned) to purchase (out of monies from our faculty fund) retiree gifts. We have eight staff members that are retiring after a gazillion years of service. I am shopping for gifts for two of them. One I am finish getting, he was easy, after recently purchasing a motor home we got him an Oregon State Parks gift certificate. It can be used for reservations in any of the state parks. A really comfy lawn chair, and a big bag of limes (with a note that states these can be used for some adult beverages being delivered to his homes front door, not on school property!!). The other gift I have to purchase is for a guy who really likes to golf. After talking with some people in his department, they suggested getting gift certificates to different courses. Great! that sounds easy enough. I head out today after school and purchase a gift certificate at Forest Hills Golf Course for 18 holes ($40.00), stop by Meriwether Golf Course 18 holes $36.00. As I head back home I decide to swing by Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course and use the rest of the monies for a gift certificate there. As I enter the Golf shop and head to the counter a cute little golfer looking gal asks if she can help me. "Well, I am interested in getting a gift certificate for a teacher who is retiring that really likes to golf, I'm thinking a gift card for 18 holes of golf, can you tell me how much that would be?" . . as I grab my Visa card out of my wallet to get ready to pay . . she says, "Sure, that's a great idea . . we sell alot of those . . that will be $150.00." . . "Uh . . how much did you say?" "$150.00 . . for 18 holes." . . . ."Of golf? . . your kidding right?" . . "No, that's how much it is." . . . "Umm . . ok . . does that mean it's $75 for 9 holes?" "No, sorry, you can't buy only 9 holes, it must be 18." . . . "Look . . .do you have any specials or anything right now?" . . "How much were you planning on spending . . maam?" . . Great there's that damn "maam" word again. "I was thinking around $50". . . "Well, I could make out a gift certificate for $50 and he could come shop in the Pro shop or use it towards 18 holes." "Thanks, but no thanks." I left and I'm headed someplace else, not sure which other course yet, but I'll find another . . tomorrow. $150.00 freaking dollars! for 18 holes of golf????!! I never would have guessed, I'm obviously not from the golfing world.