The Reason

Just a reminder. :)

Hiney Cringe

One of my favorite bloggers of all time is PDub (The Pioneer Woman). Thanks to Jennifer, I read her blog almost daily. www.thepioneerwoman.com Her site is so refreshing to a fellow mommy with too much to do, and living a country-fied kinda life. Anywho, when she mentions something that is really too much, something that makes your toenails curl, something that is OUT of your comfort zone or is just entirely TOO embarassing, she says it makes her "hiney cringe". (What exactly, would that look like...?) Ick. Anyway, I have had two hiney cringe moments as of late. One, last Thursday at 7pm, and again this Thursday at 7pm. Ug.

I love to sing, but only after two or more glasses of white wine, and only with my louder than average, belt it out and drown out all others, rockstar of a brother. Then and only then do I feel comfy singing. But I have two of my dearest friends that sing in the community choir here in The Big. They have for years, and say it's really good for the soul. Well, I have been WANTING to for ages, but was soooo AFRAID! I don't read music. I don't sing. I know nothing. So, I went and let 'er rip like I knew what the hellllll I was doin'. Don't get me wrong, I'm not fooling anyone. Just last night, our conductor said I need that to be "mezzo forte". Ok, big guy, comin' right up. I can mezzo forte with the best of 'um. (Mezzo usually isn't my forte. Sorry. Couldn't resist. Bad jokes are my defense mechanism when I'm scaredy.) Anyway, the first week all of the Italian notations from the conductor and on the page of Clingon in front of me, I was getting pretty slapsticky. I was NERVOUS!!!!!!!! I asked my darling gorgeous talented operatic soprano friend standing next to me..."J, this says 'Tutti' on it....are we supposed to now start singing the theme song to the Facts of Life?" Got her good on that one. She was cracking up. Anyway, concert is first weekend in December. Only three more rehearsals left. Pray for me, k?

I'm PsychIC...not PsychO

So, baby boo was feeling ill yesterday, so I stayed home with him. While I was sad he was sick, some days you can literally feel childhood slipping away, giving way to adolescence, puberty, college, marriage, his retirement...you kno? It's all too much. So, I was honored to have a chance to sit in the chair, cuddle him under the fuzzy pink throw and watch cartoons for hours. It sure helped him feel better. Daddy and Sissy went to run errands in the evening and we were having a Jenga tourney. While watching the World Serious. I said, "Oohh, honey, Chase Utley's up. He's hit like seven homers in the series so far, he's got two on, and if he knocks this one out, it would make a three run homer." Sure enough, that pitch. Schmack. Outta the park. It was funny. T got a huge kick out of it. Then he said "I was praying and praying." Powerful boy, that one.

Blogging Schmogging

This other person currently living in my home read my blog. For maybe the first time ever. After the exciting tales about the summer that the kids and I had enjoyed... his beef? I commented that the "real spark plugs" of the family had done the siding removal. Not good. So, maybe I will stick to postings about nothing. How about this "Back to School" gem from my sissy, sent to me in an email.

Btw...Which aisle is patience on? I need the bulk/economy size.

Anyway, get a load of this..

How to fail a test with dignity.




Notice the memo line.


Took me just a sec on this one... :)

Summer 2009

This is all I can seem to do on the blog lately is save up months and months of material and then spew it forth in one shot! Here's a rundown of summer...

House. We have been needing to side the sucker for...ahem...awhile. So, the real sparkplugs of this family got out there and started demo. That would be myself and the babies. Oooh...demo is my fav. Second shot is after siding. Right now we are typar-ed and waiting for channel. Then we foam and side. SLOW process.

The best dern crew a mommy could ask for! Get those kids a raise!

Fourth of July with Grandma and Grandpa in Dayville~so much fun! Uncle Andy hit it out of the park that night.

Camping for a week plus with the Dickens clan at Unity. Blissful. Even with the rattlers. This is the kid crew in my tent trailer. CUTE runs in this generation!

Emmy even got a little riding in with Kay.

Then camping for an extra long weekend up at Spring Creek with the McMasters and McCumbers...it's a McCampout! Little baby Holly puppy. We all heart Holly.

Dad lookin like he's a fixin to open a tall can of whoop ass on me...but actually I think he was animating his story.

Emmy and Papa riding Dave Myers four wheeler. It was a big hit.

Emmy had yet another wedding needing her flower girl services. Our cousin Ryan asked us, and we were honored to accept his invitation. SUCH a nice day on a big ranch out by Heppner. Truly a romantic day. The shot of Ryan and Eva on horseback brought real for real tears to my eyes. It was really a beautiful and special moment. My wish is that they will love each other forever. Amen.

Tristan and Isaac throwing meadow muffins at one another. We're country kids..throwing cow crap at one another is instinctual...it's like breathing. Too dang funny.

Emma and Keegan. So cute.

The sunset between Lexington and Hermiston. So beautiful. I had to stop the car and get a shot. The sun is indeed setting on summer. We have alot of fun to squeeze into the next week or so. Hope your summers were all you had hoped for!

Love and Sunshine,

Sam

Camping...

is alot of work! Just got back from Unity where we spent a week with Mom's side. There were quite a few of us there, and we had a great time! Jay got to try his new Valentine's Day present/wakeboard and totally tore it up! I am not the best boat driver ever, but I am getting better and better. You'd think after ten years I would be GOOD. Anyway, the kids had fun on their little towable thingy too. Jr and Artie both killed rattlesnakes while we were there, not fun stuff. Anyway, then I ran home (love to tow over Dooley mountain..can I get an amen?) and washed all the laundry and cleaned the house and starting prepping for Spring Creek. You have to bring your A game for this campout, people. The menu? Grilled sausage and potato packet, taco salads in individual dorito bags, baked potato bar and angel hair shrimp pasta. Dessert? Scratch coconut cream pie and also an angelfood strawberry creamcheese trifle.

Y'all come!!!

Codger Butts Drive me nuts!

So, recently I read about some dumb$&^# buying the wrong chemicals for his flowers. Not sure HOW a person could do that. Perhaps it's just age, creeping in. It's sad, really, that the old geezer is losing his faculties...but I guess it's time. Like the circle of life, really. Wanted to find a nice photograph to lift his spirits...to help him feel better about himself and his adult onset of dyslexia. (I mean really, aging is spelled with no e...it's tragic.) Anyway, I am also putting the finishing touches on a Solo manual that I hope to share with everyone at Spring Creek, because with this turn of events, he may not remember a heart from a diamond next time he makes a pitiful attempt to play. Anyway, this picture represents Uncle Roger to a T! It speaks to the heart of who he is.

(Gotcha, sucka.) (Hope your sense of humor is still intact.)

LOVE and big gooey kisses on your cheek,

Yer favorite wonderful talented smart and amazing niece

TRANSFORMER DAY!

Oh, people. Sit. Let me tell you something. This day has BEEN A LONG TIME COMING. From the first day my son watched the first Transformer movie, he has been awaiting June 24. It's scribbled in Sharpie on the calendar in his sister's hand, its a benchmark for other dates..."is that before the Transformer movie comes out, or after?" It's like BT=BC or AT=AD. It's funny stuff I tell you what! So, today has arrived. The day that will bring my son such joy and happiness. (Especially that he is getting to watch another PG-13 movie. Usually I pre-screen the PG-13 material and then zip through the icky stuff. I'll have to use the 'hide his eyes' technique in the theatre, I guess.) Anywhoozle, I am taking him today to the matinee. Maybe. I was thinking of doing mommy and brother only, but then sissy might get bummed. However, I did just mommy and sissy at the theatre when Nemo came out, but we didn't even HAVE a T-Bone then, did we? Or, we could do family movie night tonight...usually we only go to the Drive-in as a family. So, you see my conundrum? I need your help. What would you all do?

BABY BOY BIG BOY 7!!!

Some pretty IMPORTANT stuff has been taking place at our house...but I was alone for the month of May, so we were dealing with the "hair on fire" only issues. Blogging fell away from the list of important stuff.

MOST importantly, Tristan's 7th BIRTHDAY! Big fun. First real sleepover. All about Transformers. Good stuff. Here's a little hint of the fun. The BIGGEST HIT? Apple Bobbing. Who knew?

Oh how I needed humor today..

Thanks to my gf Kerri for the smile.

Thought for Today

I want to share this poem. I didn't write it, but I love it. Today, it spoke to me and I thought I would share.

Growth

Life washes over us in layers.
A liquid refrain.
Mysteries never solved. But evolved.
Questions melt with the snow
And run off, as life washes over us
in layers.

Just something to ponder on this rainy Wednesday.

And now for something completely different...

Hello All:

This is probably illegal or sumthin, but I was forwarded this article from a colleague today which had been published on OregonLive.com. This was compelling to me because this is precisely what I do. I am an academic advisor, and it's really hard to put your finger on the essence of what this profession does. The analogy of plowing the soil really spoke to me. The other piece that was interesting to me is explaining a liberal arts education. I am forever explaining general education requiements to students, which is pretty much explaining the value of a liberal arts education. Happy Reading!

What's a liberal education?

by Celia Carlson, guest opinion

Friday May 01, 2009, 7:30 AM

Celia Carlson

Editor's note: This is the first in a weekly series of commentary pieces from faculty and staff at Mt. Hood Community college.

Out here in east Multnomah County, we have witnessed dramatic changes as horse pastures and cabbage fields have succumbed to the bulldozer. What protrudes from the soil is now not beanstalks but Jack in the Box, Regal Cinemas, Home Depot, Starbucks, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Borders Books. These are not small businesses, not locally owned enterprises. The jobs our area now grows are those of cashier, not owner.

A college cannot stop change or take away people's fear of displacement. A college is a community that offers basic skills, both theoretical and practical. That is broadly understood. What is less well understood is that it nurtures certain habits of mind.

Academics regularly speak of a "liberal education." Despite the centrality of this concept to the mission of most American colleges, its meaning is not widely understood.

Liberal means open-minded. A liberal education is rooted in the basic beliefs that all minds have potential, that education is essential to freedom, and that a free mind conveys knowledge to others.

This set of beliefs, in the potential and freedom of the human mind, entails a deep commitment to exposure to new ideas. Since language is at the heart of ideas, one goal of a liberal education is cultivating respect for the power of language and for stimulating attention to the different ways in which people understand words. This helps people recognize common purposes amid difference.

A liberal education helps people respond to change because it teaches tolerance for ambiguity. It models good citizenship because it recognizes the claims of others to share in the products of the earth we all have in common.

Ideas are the soil in which colleges cultivate minds, almost like crops. Think of a college as an orchard in which individual minds grow like cherries or peaches. A liberal education "works the soil." It doesn't just plow, pick, collect the money and run. The educational process does not happen overnight; it cultivates the whole person. That takes time. And things that require time cost money.

Words are the soil in which cultures flourish or wither. Words Americans presently dispute include such small explosives as "rights," "taxes," and "mine." Words can be toxic, poisoning our irrigation, or they can be potent fertilizer. They are powerful forces for good or ill because they invoke crucial questions: Does the community have legitimate needs and aspirations beyond the individual? Can we think of "the corporate" inclusively, not just as business, which we value, but as the body of society as a whole, all of whose members deserve consideration?

A student once asked me anxiously after writing an essay about a value she believed in: "I really do think we should care about others. Does that make me a socialist?"

As a society, how do we want to encourage this student to imagine ways in which she can integrate her deep personal commitments with concepts she is encountering and putting to the test? A liberal education challenges us all to ask these difficult questions.

Celia Carlson is an instructor of English at Mt. Hood Community College. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the position of the college.

Good Quote

Since we live in the US today, with the current trends, please consider the following quote.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.� -Margaret Thatcher

My Sun

It's not a typo. He's my son. But he's my sun. Everyone, meet sun. Sun, meet everyone. My other sun is not a son. She's a daughter. Happy Friday. This message has been brought to you by me, the one teetering on the edge of sanity. Thank you.

New Blog Series..

Welcome to a new series of blog posts I will submit periodically entitled...I would like to learn how to take pictures.

Please accept my first submission.

I would like to learn to take pictures, Part I


Not bad. Blurry.
Had to capture the purple. Screeched the car to the side of the road to photograph. Gorgeous color....mediocre photo. Name that mtn. range.
See the tree reflected in the glass ball? Kinda artsy fartsy.
Crumpled up leaf. Just liked the texture and the unusual color.
Blurry. GRR. Loved the one purple blossom surrounded by icky.
Cool color, eh? Barberry.

Happy Easter at the Eggos

Happy Easter! This was a fun year. All the traditional stuff. Eggs, more eggs and more eggs. Colored eggs at Grandma and Papa's and 4 doz at home. Good stuff. Plus, the Easter Bunny brought us new video games! Those will be old news as soon as the big thaw finally happens. Spring in Eastern Oregon...ah...it's such a nice two day period. Can't wait til it gets here.

Happy Happy Birthday, Annie Woo

Our little big girl is having a birthday today! Drop by her blog and wish her well. She's getting so big... :( I still remember vividly the day she was born. I loved her the instant I laid eyes on her, and I still do. I'm a lucky auntie. Love you, sweet pea!!