scuslidge

Long time no post here ...

2008-05-05T22:05:28Z

I've been over at my other place posting pretty regularly, but since I shared the whole cancer-no cancer story about my father here, I thought I would take a moment to update. Dad continued to have some problems with pain and other issues, so he went to the Mayo Clinic at the end of March. After a bunch of tests and some invasive procedures to take care of a problem with his stent, the doctors told him that Dr. Negative was right after all and that he had pancreatic cancer. Just one of the very rare folks who live more than the normal 3 to 18 months after diagnosis. We were all hoping he'd break the record for survival with that cancer, but he started to have more issues and about a week and a half ago was told that his liver was shutting down and he had two to three weeks left. I hopped a plane the next day and have been in Colorado since. He died this morning.

I won't go into all of the details of the past week and a half, but by the end we were all ready for him to go to what would no doubt be a better place for him. His passing was peaceful and quiet. I had been staying with my stepmom at the hospice and didn't hear him go. He just stopped breathing.

I certainly was not ready for him to leave, but I'm glad his pain is over.

I'm cheating on you ...

2008-01-09T19:35:19Z

http://thehokeypokeyiswhatitsallabout.blogspot.com/

Well, at least they've got the right body part this time ...

2007-11-28T00:37:46Z

I guess I can be grateful that I'm not being offered the opportunity to enlarge my penis, but:

LADIES, bigger your asset now, give your mate a big surprise

* if your are her BF/HUBBY, buy your girl this 100% safe BreastEnhancement Pill

* you will feel proud of having LargerBoobie mate

Given that I'm not exactly skinny right now, I don't think my husband needs a LargerBoobie mate. I'll re-evaluate if and when it ever becomes an issue.

NOT.

I'm Thankful

2007-11-26T20:31:22Z

Things to be thankful for:

A pretty awesome family. They’re all stubborn and opinionated, but they’re bright, witty and wonderful to be around. And that even goes for three of the four exchange students we’ve hosted. Good health (brain still normal). A roof over our heads and food on the table.

You know, all of the basics.

Plus, a job that does this:

Schedule an extended staff meeting. Feed us all lunch, then hand out $50.00 gift cards to the mall. Instruct us that they were to be spent on personal items and not on our families or our homes. And provide limousine transportation to said mall for a shopping trip.

That? Was a fun staff meeting.

No, really. That's what we do.

2007-11-21T18:32:00Z

Explaining Thanksgiving to an exchange student is always fun.

Do we have any plans for Thanksgiving? [Obviously assuming a four-day holiday from school must mean major plans.]

Well, I’ll be spending all day cooking.

All day?

Pretty much.

[Explain the whole origination of Thanksgiving, e.g., Pilgrims and Indians celebrating the first harvest, etc. Tell her that given our lack of nearby family members and our general heathen outlook on life, eating is pretty much what we do on Thanksgiving.]

What do you do on Thanksgiving? [Asking again, because clearly she heard me wrong.]

Well, we pretty much make enough food to feed a third world country and then we eat.

What did you do last year?

We ate.

That pretty much covers it. Oh sure, we’ll go around the table and say what we are thankful for and probably play some board games and watch movies. But mainly, I’ll be throwing away enough leftovers from the ’fridge to feed one small country tonight [because no one but me seems to ever see those leftovers and therefore, they don’t exist]. Then tomorrow I’ll cook enough food to feed another small country and fill up the now roomy ’fridge with more leftovers.

And that’s Thanksgiving at our house.

What's that you smell?

2007-11-21T00:27:06Z

Well, my brain is normal.

No, really. That’s what the doctor said.

Lots of folks might have a difficult time believing it. But the scan said so.

I had been smelling cigarette smoke even when there was no way it could be present. In my non-smoking office. In my very non-smoking house. In my also very non-smoking minivan. (Yes, that’s what I drive. What’s it to ya?) If I were to walk past someone actually smoking while smelling the phantom odor, I could tell the difference between the real and the illusion, but other than that it was incredibly real. And this was no little whiff of smoke. It was as though someone were sitting next to me smoking and blowing it in my face. And I couldn’t even smack him.

Got real old, real fast. So, I went to the doc-in-the-box. Who said he couldn’t find anything, but here, take these antibiotics just in case. And schedule an appointment with an ENT specialist. Which I did. He also didn’t see anything, but prescribed a steroid burst, after promising it wouldn’t make me go nuts and kill my family. Well, not any more than the general desire to murderize them when the house is trashed and no one can see it but me – apparently I have problems with my nose, but some kind of extrasensory power of sight that can see mess where no one else can. And dirty laundry. And available food for meal prep. What eyes!

Smell was still there.

So the ENT guy scheduled a CT scan. Of the brain. Couple that with the silly internet research on phantom odors which suggested that one potential cause was a brain tumor and you have a very nervous, cigarette-smoke-smelling gal.

But my brain is normal. So they say.

The smell disappeared all on its own a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it felt that $700 spent on doctor stuff (damn $2,000 deductible) was sufficient. Knock on wood it stays gone.

We're the long lost buckle of the Bible belt ...

2007-09-25T00:04:15Z

Headline in the local paper today:

Is Idaho ready to forgive Sen. Craig?

Only in Idaho could an article in the local newspaper actually have such subheadings as:

FORGIVENESS: A RELIGIOUS PILLAR

and

WHAT THE LORD'S PRAYER SAYS

Sigh … no this was not an editorial piece. It was a front page news story. Complete with a sidebar containing no less than four Bible verses on forgiveness. The Bible Belt has nothin’ on us.

scuslidge @ 2007-09-20T11:00:00

2007-09-20T17:02:07Z

Rick to me:

Prairie Dog [local theater group] is confirmed for Friday. Please RSVP.
I made the reservations, so please let me know ASAP if you can’t make it.
I live in fear of making reservations for 12 and only me showing up to fill three tables.

Me back:

David and I will be there.
See you Thursday? (Movie night)

Rick to me:

Yes, see you Thursday.

Me back:

Good, 'cause I live in fear of cleaning the house for nothing!

Oh, and by the way. If I needed a bigger penis, I’d be in luck. The spam filter quarantined 8 offers to increase the size of my penis. If I had one.

Girls are a pain

2007-09-19T20:24:47Z

This will be a rant about girls. Um, a rather long rant. It may contain adult language. Hit the back button if that bothers you. Oh, who am I kidding. No one reads this. But I’m gonna rant anyway.

I have a daughter. She’s beautiful, incredibly bright, very funny and while she has occasional “moods” (what female doesn’t?), she’s a pleasure to know. I, of course, love her so much it hurts.

She decided about 5 years ago that she wants to fly jets off of aircraft carriers and the best way to do that would be to attend the Naval Academy (really good, free education and the possibility of flying jets off of aircraft carriers). She completed the arduous paperwork required to apply for nominations and an appointment to the Academy, received all three nominations, but wasn’t accepted her first try. Right now, she’s in Southern California attending Northwestern Preparatory School – a school that is solely to prepare kids who are trying to get into one of the nation’s military academies. Ten other girls are also at Northwest Prep (there are about 60 guys – I told Catie that it was a “target-rich environment.” Heh).

My daughter was not in the popular crowd at school. We don’t have the money to buy trendy clothes and she’s never cared about that kind of stuff anyway. In fact, I was the one who tried to de-geekify her wardrobe to some degree when she hit high school. “Honey, you don’t have to wear the most ‘in’ stuff, but I think you should wear something besides the sweat pants with the hole in the ass EVERY SINGLE DAY. In fact, I FORBID you to wear those to school ever again.” Succeeded to some extent, but she still preferred jeans and a t-shirt. Preferably a band t-shirt – she has quite a collection, one for every year of marching band and several from marching band competitions – she can wear a different one every day of the week and then start over. Which she did, frequently. She’s a self-proclaimed geek and rather proud of it.

Yeah, yeah. I’m getting to the point.

The prep school has a dress code requiring students to wear business-appropriate clothing except during the grueling physical training or the limited free time they get. So, we found appropriate clothing that my daughter was willing to wear (not an easy task). Nice slacks and t-shirt type tops, but cut nicer and with no words. She hates to wear dresses (mostly because she despises pantyhose), but a couple of interview-type dresses were procured and we got some classic, plain black, but actually comfortable, heels. She packed those in with her favorite weekend attire of jeans and t-shirts and I drove her down to the school, helped get her settled in with the other girls who had already arrived (4 of the 10), and left my nervous, trying not to tremble, baby to face the longest time she’s ever been away from home.

She calls every weekend and has been writing letters to keep us up-to-date on what’s going on. She sounds upbeat and like she’s doing well. They’re working her ass off, both physically and mentally, but for the most part, I think she’s really enjoying the experience.

Got a letter from my daughter on Monday. There was a picture of a beautiful young lady in with the letter. I looked closely at the picture. Could that be my Catie? Hmmm, right color hair. Looks somewhat like her. But no, those are not her clothes. So it must be someone who resembles her. Along with the “to the whole family” letter, there were two folded sheets of paper addressed “To Mom Only.” Turns out the stunner WAS my daughter. Wow, she really cleans up well! Some of the girls decided “Hey, let’s give Catie a makeover!” And she let them. They straightened her wavy hair, caked on the makeup and loaned her trendy clothes for a picture. She really looked fabulous.

Which is all fine and good. It’s great to have a “wow” look for special occasions. Problem is, my daughter inherited the “shower and go” attitude from me. Other than lotion to keep my skin from flaking totally off and deodorant to keep people from shunning me, I really don’t do the whole dress-up-purty thing on a daily basis. I reserve makeup for really special occasions. Mostly because I’m too damn lazy to clean it off at the end of the day and THAT can’t be good for your skin. So, Cate was happy with the head-turning look, but not really planning on making it a daily regimen.

Enter the bitches. The make-over gals have decided that they’re going to take Catie out on one of their free weekends and she’s going to buy a whole new wardrobe. They’re making comments such as “Oh, hon, we have GOT to get you a new pair of heels” and “Please don’t ever wear your hair in a braid like that again.” Catie said, “They talk as if my appearance is offensive.”

Why is it girls can be so focused on appearances? Why don’t they think before they open their mouths and say something obnoxious? Do they think Catie should be grateful that they are making fun of the way she looks when she’s not doing exactly what they think she ought to do? Even if we had the money for a whole new wardrobe, Catie’s not really interested in ditching everything she likes so she can be trendy. She can’t really say what she thinks because she has to live in very close quarters with all of these girls every single day and has nowhere to go to be on her own. She doesn’t want to offend them and have them pissed at her for the remaining 2-1/2 months she’ll be living with them. See, my daughter is capable of thinking before she says something offensive.

I suggested that she let them know that the Bank of Mom & Dad is tapped out and she spent all of her summer earnings on school too, so she’s not really in a position to go on a shopping spree, but that she’s willing to window shop. Go ahead and go shopping with them and take copious notes as though she’s taking all of their advice to heart and she’ll purchase one of each just as soon as she can. Heck, she may actually find something she really likes and she can always say she’s got enough in the budget to purchase one (or whatever) item.

Another thing – a lot of these girls wasted no time in pairing off with guys (remember “target-rich environment” – apparently it wasn’t a joke for some of them! In spite of the “no fraternization” rule the school has). What is it with some girls and their inability to not be part of a couple at all times? I told Catie she is so much better off being comfortable with herself. That that doesn’t mean she can’t “fraternize” if she feels like it at some point. But there’s nothing wrong with her just because she’s not salivating after everything with a penis. Yes, I did just type “penis.” I’ve always felt sorry for girls who aren’t complete without their matching guy. There are actually gals out there who won’t do things unless they’re attached to an XY chromosome. Isn’t that sad? I’ve always been comfortable taking myself to a movie, window shopping at the mall (while I’m waiting for my glasses to be made, etc.) or on a trip to New York City BY MYSELF. She’s a lot better off being able to do that instead of feeling incomplete and incapable of amusing herself unless in the presence of a – well, I won’t type it again!

Any suggestions for additional words of wisdom for my incredible daughter? Believe it or not – I’m actually at a loss for words. Heh.

Time flies when you’re having … life?

2007-09-18T17:34:45Z

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I posted!

Had a great time driving Catie to Northwest Prep School. Actually, my father-in-law did most of the driving. I drove from Boise to Mokelumne Hill, California, with Catie, then he drove to Southern California and back up to Moke Hill and I drove home alone. It was a lot of fun having some mother-daughter time during the 10-1/2 hour drive to Moke Hill. My van was in the shop (blown head gasket), so we drove a Buick that we’re buying from my dad. The only drawback? It doesn’t have a CD player. So, I dug out all my old cassettes and Catie was forced to listen to ‘80s music. Heh. Really took me back in time listening to Roxy Music, Loverboy, Queen and ELO.

While we were in the L.A. area, Catie and I drove to Hollywood to check out the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We went on a wild goose chase trying to find a good vantage point to take a picture of the Hollywood sign, but only managed to find it after it was too dark for a picture! Got a great picture of the “No Access to Hollywood Sign” sign, though! I must give kudos to those who battle the L.A. highways every day. I think I’d go crazy if I had to drive down there on a daily basis. And although I live in a relatively small city (heck, the whole state of Idaho only has about a million and a half people!), I have lived in larger cities (Philadelphia and Atlanta) so I’m not completely without big city driving experience. The school Catie is attending is in the mountains east of L.A. Once we got up above the smog, it was kind of horrifying to look down on the brown air. We’ve had some experience with brown air in Idaho, but only when there are a lot of fires burning - which is the case right now. Again, having to live with that on a daily basis would probably drive me crazy.

And the van repair? Well, turns out it needed more than head gasket work. The repair shop said there was coolant in the oil and it had likely been leaking for some time. Even though it had been running perfectly fine. They said it needed a new engine. And they weren’t just trying to jack up the bill, since they didn’t want to do that job and we would need to take it elsewhere for that repair. That upped the price of fixing the van from in the neighborhood of $2,500 to a whole new neighborhood of closer to $6,000. Since the van had nearly 100,000 miles on it and a repair like that usually signals the beginning of many more such repairs, we decided to list it on Craigslist (sold in one day - hooray for Craigslist!). We were driving the Buick and the older van (the one with close to 200,000 miles on it). Then the old van broke down. Sigh ... So we now have ourselves a new car payment. Well, not on a new new car, just on a new to us car. Yet another minivan. Joe always said that once we got a minivan our lives as cool people were over. I think having our third minivan makes it irreparable! We love ’em though since it makes long trips with three kids much more enjoyable. So we sacrifice any possible coolness factor for the comfort. The “new” van is a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. It’s ever so much larger on the inside than the Pontiac Montana was. Feels so luxurious. And it has a CD player. Which makes kids who don’t like commercials or old cassettes happy!

Joe is still loving his new job. He’s working a ton of overtime because they’re so busy. Which is fine now while he’s working through the temp agency and making overtime pay. When they roll him over to permanent employment, he’ll be on salary and it won’t be so much fun! He’s still working on painting. All of the red is done, but the yellow is taking a bit longer (because of the previously mentioned doors, windows, etc. The first coat in the dining room and half of the kitchen is done. Most of the rest is primered, so finishing shouldn’t take all that long (says she who is doing no painting). It really looks fabulous and I don’t know what took us so long to get some color on those bland, white walls!

David and Rabe are enjoying high school so far. Things are finally starting to calm down somewhat. We were pretty much consistently on the go from Rabe’s arrival until just recently. Did the fair, a rodeo, a birthday party, a picnic, a potluck, volunteered at the Shakespeare Festival three times, took a trip to Portland and the Columbia River Gorge, went to a local art festival and worked a concession stand during a football game. Rabe has orientation up in McCall, Idaho, this coming weekend, then I think we’ll settle into a more normal schedule. Oh, who am I kidding. We never have a “normal” schedule!

Speaking of Rabe, we cooked authentic Italian lasagna and tiramisu last weekend. It was great. The lasagna was a lot different than the American version (almost no cheese, for one thing), but it was quite tasty nonetheless. And tiramisu is always yummy! Oh yeah, hosting an Italian was a great idea!

I was suckered into, er volunteered to serve on our neighborhood Homeowners’ Association Board. Shoot me now. I think it will be less work than serving as PTA president at the middle school - a job that’s done since I no longer have a middle schooler - so I don’t think I’ve taken on any additional responsibilities. Just different ones. Still secretary for the high school band boosters which keeps me busy during marching season, but slows down after that.

Well, I think that’s pretty much it!

Yippee!

2007-08-17T16:21:22Z

Well, I’m sure relieved. My husband got a job before the severance ran out! Yippee! He started applying for this job the week after he was laid off. The position is being filled by an employment agency out of Colorado, even though the job is here in Boise, so everything was being done by e-mail and telephone. He sent them his resume, had a telephone interview with the employment agency and provided references. Then the agency forwarded his information to the actual company and when they indicated they were interested in meeting Joe, then and only then did they let him know what the company was. It’s a company called MotivePower. They manufacture locomotives. Joe interviewed with MotivePower on Monday and before the day was out, they had offered him a job. This was pretty much the only serious job searching he’d done, since he had decided it sounded like something he was qualified for, was somewhat in his salary range (he’s only taking a small cut in pay), and doing computer drafting is something he enjoys. I was a wee bit concerned that a bunch of eggs were being put in one basket, but it worked out great in the long run. He starts on August 27. So now he’s busy painting the living room, dining room and kitchen. The living room is going to be red and a honey-colored yellow. The red looks fabulous:

The dining room and kitchen are going to be the yellow. Which is going to be much more difficult since he has to work around: a picture window in the living room, the front door, the coat closet door, the opening for the staircase, the opening to the family room, a window-type opening from the dining room to the family room, a bow-window type area containing two windows and a sliding glass door, a window over the kitchen sink, the pantry door and behind the stove and refrigerator and under a bunch of kitchen cabinets. It’ll be awhile before I have photos of that area!

The only downfall to this new job is that he has to start on a day that he had planned to be out of town on. So, now I’m driving Catie down to Northwest Prep (near Lake Arrowhead, California). It’ll be a nice trip down with Catie, but I’m not looking forward to driving home by myself. Oh well, that’s what books on tape are for, right?

Our new exchange student arrived last Saturday. She’s adorable. Very tiny. About 4’11”. And she looks very young. When Joe was getting David registered for school, he was asking about school t-shirts. They didn’t have anything in stock that was small enough for her. In fact, the woman helping him offered a “Future Maverick” shirt because Rabe looks like she could very well be in about 6th grade! She was stunned to hear that she’ll be a Junior in high school. “That little thing!” Heh. We all love her accent! She’s from a tiny village in Northern Italy, in the Dolomites. So it’s quite different for her here. Her school will have more people than the entire town she lives in! We’re headed to the Caldwell Night Rodeo tomorrow, will go to the fair on Wednesday and volunteer at the Shakespeare Festival on Friday. Yep, we’re breaking her in quickly!

Just when things were going pretty well ...

2007-07-10T03:43:55Z

My husband called this morning with some rather bad news. He had received a message to call his boss because there was a "mandatory meeting" scheduled. Well, when he showed up for the meeting, it turns out that he was the only person attending - because he was being laid off. He worked for a major semiconductor manufacturer and before we left on vacation, there had been big news stories about a large layoff that was supposed to happen. We weren't too awful worried because his department was already working so short-handed that every time someone took time off, other folks were working overtime to cover the job. Apparently, they decided the department could take a hit anyway. Joe wasn't surprised that it was him being laid off since he was the highest paid employee in that position. Other, lower level, guys were also laid off. He had suspected that his whole department was going to be eliminated eventually since the company opened a plant in China and part of the work at that plant was the same work his division does in Idaho.

He gets paid 1/2 of his accrued "paid time off" - equivalent to about a week's work - plus at least 16 weeks, and possibly another 8 weeks. His boss was not too clear. He has a ton of paperwork to look through to determine the exact severance package. He also gets assistance in looking for other work.

He sounded pretty upbeat when we talked. I think I'm more stressed out than he is.

This too shall pass, I guess. Keep your fingers crossed that it passes quickly, please!

Vacation (still)

2007-07-08T18:42:18Z

I'm in Colorado right now - typing on an ordinary keyboard instead of my ergonomic keyboard. Ugh.

We come here every year for the week of 4th of July. My dad and stepmom live in Monument as do a sister, her husband and their 4 kids. My brother and his new wife also live in the area, as well as his ex-wife and their two kids. My stepmom's sister lives just down the street and her granddaughter stays with her for about a month this time of year. Her son drives up from Albuquerque (sans wife this year). My other sister and her husband and 2 kids fly in from Atlanta, Georgia, and Joe and I bring our kids from Idaho. All in all, it's quite the bunch of relatives. And great fun, especially for all of the cousins (10 total, plus Lexi - my step-aunt's granddaughter. Hmmm, that's a rather confusing relation, eh?).

Joe and Catie left for home yesterday (we're buying a car from my dad, so we had two vehicles to drive home and I'm staying a couple of extra days). Catie starts a nannying job tomorrow, and couldn't stay longer. Joe decided to take a different, more scenic route that bypasses Wyoming. Unfortunately, that took him right into the area of the fires in Utah, making his trip home a hefty 20 hours rather than the normal 14 or so. Apparently, it was quite a lovely drive until they hit smoke. I'll be heading through Wyoming!

I love our annual vacation here. It's great spending time with this side of my family. This visit has been rather interesting as some people are more testy than normal. My dad's diabetes has been harder to control due to his pancreas not working normally. After everyone has gone home, he's going to talk to his doctor about having an insulin pump installed to keep him more regulated (and hopefully more even-keeled emotionally). The brother-in-law who lives here has had a difficult time dealing with my brother and his new wife because he strongly disapproves of my brother having divorced his first wife. Waaaaay too long a story for here. At any rate, he barely speaks to them at family gatherings which makes things, um, interesting. I'm hoping that by this time next year things have calmed down (my brother remarried in early June - surely a year will be enough time to get over whatever ill feelings were engendered by the split/remarriage).

I'll be here today and tomorrow, then head back to Boise on Tuesday morning. David is going to stay a while longer and then fly home. I will have three more weekdays left of my sabbatical, followed by the weekend. And then it's back to work. Unless we hit the lottery between now and then! I've gone into the office a few times to do photography-related stuff (I send my photo orders in via a program the lab supplies and since we have the stone-age dialup internet at home, I have to do it from work). While there, I've tried to wade through and delete non-work-related e-mails. That should make coming back to work a little easier! Will still be strange, I'd guess.

3-1/2 weeks down, 2-1/2 to go!

2007-06-28T02:54:49Z

Well, Katrin is back in Germany and we moped around for about a week. Then, in a convoluted manner that would take too long to describe, we wound up “hosting” an old band kid (graduated last year) for a few weeks. He has a pretty bad relationship with his stepmother and she indicated she “wasn’t ready” to see him while he’s in town, so he’s in our exchange student room for awhile. We’ll be leaving town next Saturday to go to Colorado for a week, so we now have a built-in house sitter. And since he’s going to culinary school when he’s not visiting friends during his break, he’s been doing some cooking as well. Oh my heavens! He’s a fabulous cook. And yes, I’ve been taking notes! He taught me how to make truffles (flavored with chai tea so now I can’t have my morning tea without craving an incredible truffle!). The other night, he made chicken breasts with a creamy avocado sauce, mashed potatoes (out of leftover baked potatoes I had in the ‘fridge – who knew adding cream and Dijon mustard would make my old leftover potatoes taste so amazing) and julienned zucchini and yellow squash. We’re having the band director and her family over for dinner on Friday and he’s planning something with puff pastry and fajita fixings. I can’t wait!

His local family is really missing out by, well, by being complete jerks. When his stepmother was the Band Booster secretary, she complained about him constantly. I could never understand how a parent, even a stepparent, could be so mean about her kid. And now that he’s been living with us for a week, it makes even less sense. Now, I understand the dynamic between him and his family is different than between him and my family. But I’m not seeing a bit of the total problem child she used to describe. He’s polite, volunteers to help around the house and did I mention he cooks like a dream? I guess I should thank his stepmother for complaining so vehemently for so long. A lot of the reason I invited him to stay with us is because I not only felt bad that he apparently had a descendant of Cinderella’s stepmother as his own stepmother, but also because I never did more than listen in disbelief to her ranting. Granted, it would probably have accomplished nothing more than making my life difficult as well (since I was president of the Band Boosters and she was secretary, and she was already hard to deal with whenever our opinions differed), but I’d probably feel better about myself if I had at least told her I really didn’t want to be on her mass e-mail list detailing the latest issues she was having with her stepson. And that I found the fact that he wasn’t allowed to answer the telephone or the door unless she was expecting someone was a wee bit ridiculous in light of the fact that he was nearly 18 years old. And taking back the drum set they’d given him as a gift because they didn’t think he played it enough was unacceptable. It was a gift for crying out loud. Do you really think you should put conditions on how often a GIFT is used before you take it back? The other day, I called and left a message asking if she’d consider letting me chaperone a visit with his sister. Now, I did this on my own when he wasn’t here. Of course, she not only didn’t return my call she actually sent him an e-mail chastising him for asking me to “do his dirty work.” Hmmmmm, not only did he not ask me to do anything, I don’t know how wanting to see his 12-year-old sister during his vacation is “dirty work.” I guess it takes all kinds … I just don’t understand some of them.

Having our temporary guest here has eased the pain of losing Katrin. We had a nice visit with her mother – David and I took them down to my father-in-law’s house, where we based our sight-seeing operations so as to avoid hotel costs. We went to Mercer Cavern and the Calaveras Big Trees State Park (a grove of redwoods) on one day; headed up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail the next day; spent our third day in Yosemite National Park; and had a great day in San Francisco before returning home. Katrin got some last minute stuff done during her remaining time with us, and then we had to take her to the airport. Wow, that was hard. This was the first time we’ve made an airport trip since the program we usually host through handles arrivals and departures completely differently. No airports for the host family. It was tough watching her walk through security and head off to the boarding gate. Yes, there were tears. A lot different than last year’s casual “Have a nice flight!” to Sue.

And since I’m doing this post backwards, now I’ll mention the fact that my daughter’s graduation was wonderful. Also somewhat sad – but totally wonderful. She played for the last time with the band and got a great big hug from the vice principal for seniors after receiving her diploma. I can’t believe my baby is moving on to the next stage in her life. Of course, after she spends six months at a prep school, she’ll be moving back in with us, so the stage isn’t quite as far away as it could be. Which is, as I’ve mentioned, a-okay with me right now.

And, yes, there were tears.

Holy vacation, Batman!

2007-05-31T16:19:28Z

My firm offers a pretty unique perk to its staff members. Every law firm I’ve worked for (1 in Philadelphia, 1 in Atlanta, 2 in Boise) have offered a sabbatical to its attorneys after a certain number of years as partners. This is the first firm, and only one I’ve heard of anywhere, that offers one to its staff members. After completing 10 years of employment (and yes, it astounds me that I’ve worked anywhere for more than 10 years – heck this is the first time I’ve spent more than 10 years living in the same community, much less working for the same company), staff members can take a six-week sabbatical. If we have enough vacation and sick leave accrued, it is completely paid for. Since I rarely take sick leave, I have more than enough time for my six weeks off to be fully paid. Yippee!

We had originally thought we would like to fly to Germany and visit our first exchange student (as well as do other traveling in Europe). Alas, the financial situation put the brakes on that idea. In fact, I don’t have any real big plans at all. Katrin’s mother arrives tonight (should be interesting as she speaks NO English!) and we are trying to decide where we will take her during her two weeks with us. She really, really wants to see the Grand Canyon, but is not sure she really wants to spend that much time in a car. I think she was surprised by how far it is from Boise to Arizona. It’s hard for some folks from Europe to completely fathom the size of the United States – after all, Germany would fit into Montana with room left over for New Hampshire! So we’re kicking around the idea of a trip to Portland and the Columbia River Gorge. Or maybe Glacier National Park – although that’s a long drive as well as being too cold to camp (yes, I know some people camp in the snow – but I’m a weather weenie and hate to be that cold when I’m trying to sleep). We’re going to wait until she’s here and we’ve looked at the map book together to decide. Aahh, the impulsiveness of it all!

We have a houseful of company right now. My dad’s here. Dr. Negative FINALLY told him about a month ago that he really doesn’t have cancer for sure – this after he agonized for over eight months, with every stomach pain surely a sign of impending death. Yes, he was a wee bit cranky! He’s in a much better mood now. My stepmom and her sister are here. My sister and her four kids are here. Katrin’s mother and Joe’s dad fly in tonight. And Joe’s sister gets here tomorrow. We’ve got a tent trailer in the back yard and have had kids sleeping everywhere for the last two nights. Now that we’re kicking Catie out of her room for the next five nights, we’re going to pitch a tent in the backyard for the kids. That’ll be nice since the constant giggling emanating from her room until the wee hours of the night, while cute, was seriously impacting my ability to get any sleep! Emmy is now in her sixth month post-chemo and is looking fabulous! Her hair, which used to be completely straight prior to falling out altogether during chemo, has a little waive to it and is a really cute length. Regular testing continues to come up clear. The first year is the most dangerous in terms of potential reoccurrence, so we’re holding our breath (no, not literally!) she makes it through that with flying colors. Several kids my sister knows of who were struggling with Ewing’s Sarcoma (like Emily) or other types of cancer have not been as lucky as Emily. Krista was telling me of a spate of bad news she received recently about kids who are not going to win their battle with cancer. Very sad. Go hug your kids.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to cry like a baby when Catie graduates Saturday night. I was leaking a few tears just thinking about it while driving to work the other day, so I know there’s no hope of dry eyes when the actual event occurs. Considering I broke down into tears after her last marching band performance, that should have given me an inkling of what was to come. Oh well, I’ve warned everyone so they’ll know what to expect.

Catie was not accepted to the Naval Academy this year and her grades slipped somewhat (I don’t think I was completely successful at not saying “I told you so” about signing up for FIVE AP classes this year – it was just too much). She’s going to reapply for next year, but may have to attend a full year of college to prove she can do the work – which means two years of college, since she’d be in the middle of her second year before she heard back about her application. We’re sending her to a prep school in Southern California for the first semester of college. The school specializes in preparing kids for military academies. I’m hopeful she will really learn some good study skills there. She’s been able to coast until this year since she’s pretty bright and school came easy for her. It was quite a rude awakening this year – one she was not prepared for at all. The prep school will work on physical training and give the kids an even better base for college calculus – which is one of the “Plebe killer” courses at the Naval Academy. They will also do non-lab Chemistry and she’ll take the Chemistry lab class when she returns for spring semester. I’m not nearly as stressed out as Joe and Catie over her lack of acceptance into the Naval Academy this year. She is pretty young – having an early July birthday makes her only 17 when she graduates from high school – and I think having a year or two more at home will be good for her. Nope, not thinkin’ of me and my desire to keep my cubs close as long as possible. Not at all.

When lawyers are amused ...

2007-04-27T16:14:15Z

Real string of e-mails in the law firm I work for:

FROM THE RECEPTIONIST TO ALL:

Subject: Bread and peanut butter in the first floor refrigerator.

Some of the attorney's have requested that we keep bread and peanut
butter in stock for people that might not have the time to get out for
lunch and need a little snack.
We have a large peanut butter jar in the cupboard to the right of the
sink and wheat and white bread in the refrigerator. It is available to
everyone.
___________________________

I'm not sure we can take this hit on our overhead...

_________________

Wow.
When I practiced law in Washington DC years ago I heard about firms that
provided lavish meals to their lawyers just to keep them happy and
working.
I never dreamed that I would some day find myself indulged in this way!

_________________

The lunches in Washington, D.C. are more lavish. The law firms there
spring for the jelly.

__________________

Well, we have wisely drawn the line there... You start with jelly, and
then its jam, and soon it's homemade preserves, and who knows what from
there!

__________________

Two thoughts on PB:
1. No fingers!
2. What about CHUNKY?

Long time no post!

2007-04-14T01:27:44Z

Long time no post. Probably because things are going so darn well with this year’s exchange student and I don’t feel the need to complain. Heh.

We took a great Spring Break vacation. Took along an extra exchange student since she’s living with a family that has 5 of their own kids and they’re not doing much in the way of traveling with her. I doubt I would do a lot of traveling if I had to cram 8 people into a vehicle! At any rate, we loaded up and left Boise after Joe got home from work on the first Saturday morning of Spring Break and headed down to Panguitch, Utah. Joe was exhausted after working all night and traveling all day, so I picked up some fast food for him and then took the kids to Red Canyon. We oohed and aahed and took a bunch of pictures (southern Utah is truly beautiful), then grabbed dinner at a diner across the street from our motel. After dinner, we were pretty exhausted so we hit the hay pretty early. One of the reasons we decided to do this particular vacation was to save costs - we have a National Park Pass and motels in southern Utah are quite a bit less expensive than those in the Pacific Northwest where we had originally planned to vacation. Plus there is the advantage of the “family room” that you can book in small, southern Utah towns. What, you might ask, is a family room? Well, it’s a hotel room that’s big enough for the larger families you might expect in Utah. The room we booked in Panguitch had three double beds in it. So, no sneaking the “extra” folks in along with sleeping bags because we’re too cheap to book two rooms for five or more people. David in particular was happy about the family room situation because when we did this vacation with our first exchange student, he bunked on the floor before we discovered family rooms.

We got up Sunday and tried to find a grocery store to purchase our traditional apples to take on our Bryce Canyon hike. That’s when we remembered the downfalls of being in small towns in southern Utah - grocery stores aren’t open on Sunday. So, we picked up some water at a gas station convenience store (you know you’re in a small town when the gal who was your waitress at a restaurant the night before is also your cashier at the convenience store the next morning!), threw some granola bars in our backpacks and headed for Bryce Canyon. If you’ve never been there, go. It’s impossible for any description to do it justice. Let’s just say what the original owner of that land said: “It’s a hell of a place to lose a cow.” We hiked the Fairland Loop trail, which is 8.5 miles of amazing colors and scenery. Many pictures taken. I was moving kind of slow by the end, but managed to finish and still be able to walk the next day. A major victory, I say! We headed south to Kanab, Utah, to the other family motel room we had booked and after a rather lousy dinner (I don’t know why anyone would recommend Nedra’s - their food is really very, very bland, which is sad for Mexican food) sacked out for the night.

On day three, we headed to Zion National Park. This park was Joe’s favorite. From the fascinating look of Checkerboard Mesa to the majesty of the peaks and canyons, it is a wonderful piece of handiwork by Mother Nature. We went on the “Canyon Overlook” hike, made it to the Upper Emerald Pool (the last .3 mile of that hike is aptly labeled “strenuous”) and the 2 mile paved walk along the river to the beginning of the Zion Narrows. Lots more pictures. Headed back to Kanab for the night, this time eating at the Trail’s End restaurant, which I recommend wholeheartedly. Yum!

On Monday morning, the ominous look of the sky had me worried because we planned some slot canyon hiking and rain can be life-threatening in a slot canyon (since they are formed primarily by flash floods and if you’re in a slot canyon during a flood, there’s no way to get out of the way of the water - looking at large logs wedged between the walls way above your head in a slot canyon is rather sobering!). We drove to the ranger station to see if it was safe to hike and the ranger assured it that it was (you can’t really tell by the weather directly overhead, it’s weather waaaay upstream and out of sight that is of concern, so always check with the ranger before heading into a slot canyon - even if the sky is clear overhead). We hiked up a wash and into Wire Pass, where it is so narrow in some places that you just about have to turn sideways to get through. A really unique experience, and Katrin’s favorite of all the hikes we went on during this vacation. We had planned to hike several miles down Buckskin Gulch (the short Wire Pass canyon ends at a confluence with Buckskin, which is a very long slot canyon). Unfortunately, due to recent rain Buckskin was impassable in both directions unless one wanted to wade in calf-high water. I wasn’t dressed for wading and it wasn’t warm enough to have wet jeans, so while some of the family left their shoes and headed further into Buckskin, Catie and I started back for the car. After we all met up at the car, we hit the road again, this time headed for the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We stopped at Lake Powell for a few pictures and also detoured to the Navaho Bridge on the way. When we arrived in Flagstaff (this time doing the ol’ sneak the sleeping bags into the room method of motel usage since we weren’t in Utah any more, Toto), it started to snow and by the time we had grabbed some dinner and returned to the room it was coming down pretty darn hard! Hmmm, this bodes ill for Grand Canyon hiking since none of us had packed for near freezing temps!

No snow accumulation the next morning, but it was quite cold - with the projected high at 39 degrees. In spite of the cold, the Grand Canyon was breathtaking. We stopped at many of the view points (which in spite of it being the off-season, had quite lots of people), took lots and lots of pictures (are you sensing a trend here?), then took the shuttle to all of the western viewpoints (the only way to get to the viewpoints to the west of Bright Angel Lodge is to use the free shuttle - but that’s okay since most of the shuttle drivers are wanna-be comedians and will keep you laughing on the way). We picked up the perfect poster to frame and hang in our “exchange student room” - a poster entitled “Canyons” that has pictures of Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon - all of our major nature stops on this vacation. We hiked a short way down Bright Angel Trail so the kids could get the “below the rim” feel of the canyon, but none of us wanted to brave the weather for a long hike. Maybe next time.

After leaving the canyon, we drove to Lake Havasu City for the night and got up and visited the historic London Bridge before heading on our way. The bridge is quite interesting - having been dismantled from its original place over the Thames River and reassembled over part of Lake Havasu (from the mainland to a small island in the lake). You can still see numbers written on the stones to indicate their placement.

We headed for California next, driving from Lake Havasu City all the way to Mokelumne Hill, a small town in the foothills above Stockton, where we stayed with my father-in-law for two nights. On the day between, we took a day trip to San Francisco - always one of our favorite places to visit. We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, went to the beach at the end of Golden Gate Park so the German girls could dip their toes in the Pacific Ocean and then rode a cable car. We left the cable car on Lombard, a couple of steep blocks away from the curvy part of the street, then walked up the steps with all the other tourists. After walking along Fisherman’s Wharf, we had dinner at our favorite restaurant on Pier 39 - Bubba Gumps (we always ace the Forrest Gump trivia questions the waiters and waitresses ask).

Joe had to replace the car’s brakes the next morning, so we got a rather late start when we headed for home. We drove over the Sierra Nevada mountains and stopped at Lake Tahoe (for more pictures, of course!), then saw Reno all lit up. We had dinner at the place Joe and I met almost 20 years ago - John Ascuaga’s Nugget - then drove as far as Winnemucca before calling it quits for the night. One more day of driving and we were home - hundreds of pictures and many, many great memories later!

Katrin’s mother will be visiting us the last two weeks of Katrin’s stay in the U.S. and she really, really, really wants to see the Grand Canyon while she’s here. So, I may be headed back down in June. That’s okay - I never get tired of Bryce, Zion, Wire Pass/Buckskin and the Grand Canyon.

Big Brother is Watching ...

2006-12-05T05:49:12Z

Been busy here in Idaho, as usual. The big fundraiser for David’s middle school is over, so that’s a relief. It went well – except for the fact that the disc jockey didn’t show up. When I called him during the event and asked where he was, he claimed he never received my faxed contract. “Funny,” said I. “I’m looking at the confirmation sheet as we speak.” Oh, but his fax machine wasn’t working for awhile and when he called the school, not only did they refuse to give him my telephone number and feign ignorance of the event (it’s only the biggest social event that happens at the school all year – I’m sure the secretary had no idea it was going to occur), he was idiot enough to say that the gal who answered the phone “wasn’t very nice.” Which, if I didn’t already know he was a lying jerkwad, would have given him away all by itself since the school’s secretary is one of the nicest human beings on the planet and in the seven years I’ve known her has never sounded out of sorts with anyone, EVER. I live about 2 minutes from the school, so I literally ran out of the school, broke the speed limit the whole way home, got every CD we own and brought them back to be played on a portable sound system that the PTO purchased during my first tenure as president. Glad we said “yes” to that request! Anyway, the kids didn’t seem to know the difference, which was pretty cool. Helps that middle schoolers are more interested in running around the gym and making lots of noise than actually paying attention to the music that’s playing at their “dance.” We let them pick what we played and actually had music left on the list when the night was over.

Got some great news from Colorado in the past couple of weeks. Emmy has finished chemotherapy and had a bunch of tests run and the doctors have decided that things look SO GOOD that radiation is not necessary. YIPPEE!!! She’ll have tests run every month for the next two years (the danger zone for a relapse), and less frequently after that. Not completely out of the woods, but we’re all feeling pretty good about things. And Dr. Negative has decided that my dad probably has chronic pancreatitis instead of cancer and that what they thought was a tumor might, in fact, be scar tissue from previous undiagnosed episodes. Again, not out of the woods and more tests will be run on a regular basis, but things are looking great on the non-cancer front.

At work, things are not so great. Someone complained to someone else about my use of the Internet and “Big Brother” was installed on my computer. Luckily, the computer guru at my firm not only likes me, but hates having to be Big Brother and instead of the invisible install she was supposed to do so I wouldn’t know I was being monitored, she “accidentally” left the “All activities on this computer are being monitored” popup which asks me whether I prefer “Bill Me,” “Paypal” or “Continue” before it lets me finish logging in for the day. I was pretty disgruntled about the whole thing. Frankly, I knew I was on the edge as far as how much time I wasted on the Internet, but after 11 years with the company I would have thought a “Hey, we’ve had complaints about your Internet usage” might have been a little more appropriate than the Big Brother step. I don’t know a single person, attorneys included, who doesn’t surf the net during the work day and I’m the only one being monitored. Oh, I take that back. When the computer gal suggested to the office manager that it might not be exactly legal to only monitor one person, she was told to install the program on her own computer so that they could legitimately say that I was not the only one. Well, as you can imagine, there has not been a second of non-work-related Internet usage at my computer since the popups started. So there. And since it didn’t originate with my bosses (the one I spoke to was completely shocked and actually looked into it for me), I think it’ll all blow over. If I was abusing the Internet and pawning all of my work off on the word processors, I would be able to understand the attitude, but I happen to be the kind of person who sucks at delegating (because no one else can do it as good as me, right?). So, as long as I’m getting my work done and not causing others to have to do it for me, I would have expected a verbal reminder to lay off the Internet before the installation of a monitoring program. Rant over.

We’re getting ready for our annual Holiday Open House where we invite everyone we know to come over and eat appetizers and desserts and visit for awhile. We get a turnout of anywhere from 35 to 60 folks, depending on how much advance notice we’ve given and how busy folks are. Will probably be on the lower end this year since I only made the invitations last weekend (and handed them out today) and the open house is Saturday. It’s always fun though and since the kids are old enough to help out a lot now, it’s easier on me.

Well, gotta get to bed now so I can be bright eyed, bushy tailed and Internet free tomorrow!

scuslidge @ 2006-10-27T12:54:00

2006-10-27T18:56:18Z

Marching band season is officially over. Very bittersweet. Joe and I accompanied Catie on her last out-of-town competition. Joe’s dad flew up to Boise and helped Joe drive the equipment truck, which was nice because he had never seen Catie march before. The band director also allowed Katrin to accompany us. David spent the weekend with a friend, which he always prefers over a long bus ride!

The band took every award in their division (the bands are divided by size) during preliminary competition – okay I’ll ‘fess up: there were only three bands in their division, and nine bands in the whole competition! But these bands are part of the “Northwest circuit” and they compete many times during the marching season, so they are pretty much on top of their game and it’s always a challenge to go up against them. In the final competition, our band moved up to 3^rd overall, which means they bested all three bands in the division above theirs. We were pretty proud of them! Catie had the alto saxophone part in a trio, so she really got to shine in the show.

The weekend after the out-of-town competition, the band competed in the District III competition on the smurf turf at Boise State University. Lots of bands, both large and small, at DIII. There were six bands in the same division as our school. Katrin, David and I (Joe couldn’t get time off work) were part of the “pit crew” which means that we helped get the front ensemble instruments, the drum majors’ stands and some props out on the field and set up prior to our band’s performance and off the field after they marched. Each band has 15 minutes for its show, which includes getting set up, performing and getting off the field. Since the marching part of the show is about 8 minutes long, that means we had 3-1/2 minutes to set up and 3-1/2 minutes to load up and exit the field. The kids did a fabulous job and I was literally crying as we were running the equipment off the field because I was so proud of them. Yeah, I admit it – knowing that it was Catie’s very last march might have made me cry even if they had blown it. But they definitely didn’t blow it! They took first place in auxiliary, percussion, marching and general effect and first place overall in their division – yielding only the plaque for best music to another band. It was a pretty exciting awards ceremony!

Next big project is the “Boogie Bash” – an annual event put on by the PTA at my son’s school, which includes a dinner, dance, silent auction, games and lots of community building. Since I’m the PTA president this year, that means I’m very, very busy right now! A week from today and it’ll be all over!

Deep breath…

scuslidge @ 2006-10-09T17:30:00

2006-10-09T23:32:22Z

Just got back from a lovely long weekend in Yellowstone National Park with a swoop through Grand Teton National Park on the way home (well, rather out of the way, but still…). Our school district had an extra long weekend (two teacher in-service days made it a 4-day weekend), so we decided to take advantage of it and take Katrin to Yellowstone. Joe couldn’t get time off work and David decided that since he’d been to Yellowstone twice in just over a year and one of his best buddies had a birthday party scheduled, he’d skip the trip, so it was just the girls and me. We got a late start since Catie had marching band practice, so we didn’t hit the road until almost noon. Drove like a bat out of hell (“Look out the window – that’s Malad Gorge” and “The Snake River Canyon is pretty cool here, we’ll stop and see it some day”), and made it to the Mammoth Hot Springs part of Yellowstone by shortly after 9:00. We stayed in a cabin in the park the first night, and awoke to the sound of elk bugling. Really cool! A rather large herd of elk were hanging around the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel/dining room area and we got to watch the bull elk do battle with a pine tree that was clearly really irritating him. We wandered around the hot springs terraces oohing and aaahing over the active areas (which are lovely shades of orange in really cool shapes), and then went on a 5-mile hike in the nearby hills to some beaver ponds. It’s very beautiful in Yellowstone this time of year with meadows a lovely amber and orange and the dark green pine trees splashed with vivid yellow aspen and cottonwoods. A badger ran across the trail in front of us at one point then hid behind a mound of earth, popping his head up to see if we’d gone yet and ducking back down when he spied us. Up, down, up, down. We found it quite amusing. After the hike, we headed down the road to West Yellowstone, since I’d decided one night in a “rustic cabin” at $115 was okay, but the other two nights needed to be somewhere a wee bit more reasonable. We checked out the sites and stopped and explored all of the interesting places between Mammoth and West Yellowstone and checked into our motel about an hour after dark.

On day two, we headed for Old Faithful, detouring again for all of the spots that looked interesting. If there’s a one-way side road off the main drive, I highly suggest always taking it as they inevitably lead to some of the more beautiful sights. Firehole Canyon, for instance, with its sheer cliffs down to the rushing Firehole River and the lovely Firehole Falls. Old Faithful was very cooperative, erupting mere minutes after our arrival. We walked the boardwalk back to Morning Glory Pool, which is stunning. Unfortunately, it’s not as stunning as older pictures show since idiots have thrown trash and debris into the pool, restricting some of its flow and causing the temperature to lower enough for the startling blue center of the pool to be smaller and ringed by deep green. Still a marvelous sight, but a sad commentary on human stupidity. We continued around the grand tour, with a stop at the West Thumb area of Lake Yellowstone, Fishing Bridge, and the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It’s a small world – two other exchange students (one from Catie and Katrin’s school and one from the program I volunteer with) were at the Canyon Village store.

On our last day in the area, we got up early and headed back through Yellowstone to the Tetons. On our way through Yellowstone, we saw four bald eagles (there was a carcass in a river and the birds were perched in the surrounding trees waiting for all of the camera-wielding tourists to leave so they could enjoy their breakfast in peace). We stopped and took pictures of a small herd of elk crossing the Gardiner River. When we originally drove over a bridge and noticed an elk in the river, we didn’t realize she was accompanied by about five of her buddies. We pulled off into a parking area to take a picture of the original elk and realized several others were grazing in the area. One by one, they entered the river and headed across until finally there was one young elk left munching grass. She appeared to suddenly realize she had been left behind and looked a wee bit startled. After flipping her ears back and forth and inching closer to the water, she finally plunged in and headed across. It was really fascinating to watch.

We saw no bears on this trip, but Yellowstone yielded one badger, three coyotes, four bald eagles, a crane, chipmunks, squirrels, many elk and lots of bison for our viewing (and photographing) pleasure. We really, really wanted to see moose so when we were down in Teton National Park, we asked if they could suggest a likely location for moose viewing. With hand-drawn map in hand, we headed for the Oxbow Bend area of the park. No moose at first glance (although a coyote dashed across the gravel road we were traveling on and promptly blended in with the vegetation in the field). We hiked around some trails in the area and saw lots of hoof prints and moose poop, but no moose. After driving the rest of the gravel road, we headed back to the main road. Imagine our surprise to see what is commonly referred to as an “animal jam” (lots of cars pulled over by the road so their inhabitants can view an animal) right in the area we had previously hiked around. The moose had emerged from wherever they had been lurking during our hike and were knee deep in the water eating. Oh, for a serious telephoto lens! My 200mm didn’t bring them nearly close enough – but it’ll have to do.

We jammed through the rest of Teton National Park and since the top two-thirds of the Tetons were unfortunately covered by clouds, didn’t even stop for pictures. After lunch and a stop to gas up in Jackson, we headed for home. A short, but wonderful little break from the normal world.

We’ll be heading out of town again next weekend as well. Catie has a marching band competition in Grant’s Pass, Oregon, and we are serving as equipment truck drivers (Joe and his dad, who has never seen Catie march before) and chaperones (me). The band director said Katrin could ride along as well. David will be spending the weekend with his buddy again, which does not break his heart! We’re looking forward to another fun competition – and one of the last of Catie’s high school marching career. Bittersweet!

Say What?

2006-09-26T21:37:28Z

There are some real ~~idiots~~ interesting people out there. Take this gem from Nampa, Idaho. He wrote a letter to the editor of the Idaho Statesman that posits, well, let’s hear it in his words, shall we?

Government explanation of 9/11 is a damn lie.
The WTC was designed specifically to withstand jet crashes.
The fuel from the second jet didn't stay in the building, it exploded outside, so it could not have caused the girders to melt down.
The WTC was nearly all steel, and shaped in a mesh. The second plane would have merely disintegrated on contact. Airplanes are not solid steel.
A third WTC building was purposefully demolished on 9/11 after the two crashes. It would have taken days to plan, and could not have been a coincidence to the other events.
The owner of the WTC stands to make $3.5 billion from the new WTC buildings.
These and many other proofs that the official version are lies are readily available to anyone with a computer and a search engine.
Don't take my word for it, check it out yourselves.

Randy Hitt, Nampa

Hmmm. I’ll bet he believes the Earth is flat, aliens reside at Area 51 and the moon landing was faked, too.

Long time no update ...

2006-09-22T21:32:25Z

So far, it’s looking to be a much better year, exchange-student wise. Katrin is a very sweet gal. Her trip from Germany to the U.S. was the first time she had set foot on an airplane, so she’s not exactly a seasoned world traveler! She’s very, very quiet – but I’m hoping she’ll speak up more as she becomes more comfortable with the language. I’ve explained that no one will think she is dumb if she uses a word wrong – after all, most Americans can only speak English proficiently (and some of us can’t even do that!), but I still think she’s afraid of sounding stupid. She’s been to the Idaho State Fair, the Shakespeare Festival (we volunteer as often as we can because we love to see the productions free!), a birthday party, Art in the Park (an annual event featuring over 200 booths of artists’ wares for sale) and a couple of Mensa events. She’s on the school’s swim team and so far has competed in two swim meets and participated in a car wash. I think we’re breaking her in quickly! We’ve been hiking once and she loved it. We definitely have a better match this year.

Life’s been busy, as usual. Put together a website for Catie’s high school band to supplement the band booster meeting minute e-mails I send out as secretary of the boosters. Gave a speech last week as president of the PTA at my son’s middle school open house. The principal introduced me and said that I would love to say a few words. Heh! I told the audience that he was greatly exaggerating since it was moments like that when I realized why I’d chosen a career that did NOT involve public speaking! I had recycled my speech from when I was PTA president when my daughter was at the middle school - just updated it a bit. Read through it once before giving it. Probably best since I didn’t have time to be quite as nervous as previous speech-giving occasions. Got several compliments, so I must not have sounded as sweaty as I felt! Hmmm, can one sound sweaty? Sold a bunch of sweatshirts, so the non-stop fundraising has begun! Timed my first swim meet (all of the parents have to take a turn volunteering at swim meets – if a team doesn’t have a certain number of volunteers at the meet, its swimmers can’t even get in the water). Shot senior portraits of a gal I helped coach in soccer 8 years ago and got orders from two other photo shoots, so I’m busy putting those together in the evening when I don’t have other things going on. I’ve found a new lab, but it’s in Salt Lake City, so I have to ship my stuff - which makes me nervous, but there’s not much I can do about it. Used a local professional lab a couple of times, but since they printed some of my proofs backwards (hey, wasn’t that watch on his other arm?) I don’t think I’ll use them any more.

It’s strange to think that Catie is in her last year of high school. She’s crazy busy right now - cadet squadron leader of her Civil Air Patrol unit, section leader of the alto saxophones in her marching band, 4 AP classes. We have to find some “spare time” to take her senior photos. I can’t believe I’ll be taking my baby’s senior photos! Holy crap, I’m getting old!

David is doing well so far in school. We really struggled with him last year - he just didn’t want to do homework and as a consequence he actually failed his algebra class and is retaking it this year. Not from lack of ability - just because he didn’t do very much of the homework. In the beginning of the year, he would still ace the quizzes and tests, but by the end of the year his lack of homework had caught up with him and he was even doing poorly on the tests. He knows what creek he’ll be up sans paddles if he repeats that behavior this year. So far, so good!

My dad’s home from the hospital and getting better every day - especially since my stepmom figured out how to use the pain med via patch correctly! Apparently, the first week he was home, he was on essentially no pain medication! He made another emergency trip to the hospital because a temporary stint was clogged and he had an infection. He’s now got a permanent stint and his infection is cleared up and he’s sounding better than he has since this whole thing started.

My niece spent a week at Disneyland and other fun spots in Southern California with a group of other kids going through cancer treatment. Had a blast. Plus, since all of her kids are now in school, my sister actually got a real break for the first time since Emmy started cancer treatment. I know she needed that.

That's all the news.

scuslidge @ 2006-08-14T14:13:00

2006-08-14T20:14:15Z

Got a phone call from my dad last Tuesday night. Apparently, the surgeon (hereinafter “Dr. Negative”) bombarded my family with horrible news the night before surgery. Said he was 95% positive that dad had pancreatic cancer (a very aggressive cancer that can rarely be cured) and that without surgery, he’d live about 3 months. With surgery, he could live as much as 18 months. You’d think I’d be ready for that kind of news in light of the recent roller coaster medical pronouncements. But no, I was shocked.

I hopped on a plane for Denver Wednesday morning, rented a car and drove to the hospital in Colorado Springs. Surprised my family as they were waiting for the end of the operation. We all hugged and cried and I let them know that I wasn’t going to be a pillar of strength, because I’m better at falling apart!

Dr. Negative came out when the operation was done and said that they had been unable to remove the tumor because it was intertwined with a major vein and if they had cut the vein accidentally, he would have bled to death. Initially, we’d been told there was the possibility that they would remove some or all of his pancreas, but they didn’t take anything out. They connected his small intestine to his stomach so that he would be able to eat without being sick (since the tumor was causing problems with his bile duct, which was causing him to promptly bring up anything he ate). The tumor had previously been biopsied, but during surgery, they took larger pieces of the tumor and some pieces of his pancreas for further testing. The initial biopsy results indicated no cancer, but Dr. Neg was still convinced that more extensive tests would back up his diagnosis. Dad was very unhappy when he woke up in the recovery room and we had to tell him he was still the proud owner of a tumor and that the doctor was unable to give us any more news than had already been provided. He had some medical devices, the name of which was never provided to me, strapped around his lower legs which provided stimulation to his muscles while he was lying in bed. I knew he was the same ol’ dad when he said he’d like an extra one – but a little higher on his body. Heh.

Friday afternoon, we heard the “preliminary” results of the pathologist’s tests: negative. Of course, since the results were merely on the computer and not in writing on paper, no one was giving us any guarantees. Apparently, folks in charge at the hospital just love those waiting games. We are not so fond of them. When the final pathology results came back, they were also negative. So, it appears that he does not have cancer after all. Much relief. Dr. Negative is only willing to say that he “hopes” the results are right.

The whole experience was emotionally draining and we were exhausted every night even though we had mostly been sitting around the hospital. My dad is still in the hospital recovering from the surgery. He plans to see an oncologist when he is released so that he can find out what that he/she might think about the results of the tests.

In the meantime, he’s teasing the nurses and trying to get well enough to go home and I’m home trying to recover from the thought that I was going to lose my dad (and my kids their grandfather) waaaay before I’m ready to.

scuslidge @ 2006-08-07T15:27:00

2006-08-07T21:28:24Z

Shouldn’t have been too quick to get excited by the no-cancer diagnosis – my dad has been in the hospital since Thursday with abdominal pain and vomiting. He just hasn’t been able to keep anything down for quite some time now and was seriously dehydrated. They’ve diagnosed pancreaitis, and have scheduled surgery on Wednesday to remove the allegedly non-malignant tumor. His doctor informed him that in spite of several test results that said he doesn’t have cancer, the doc still believes that due to the location of the tumor, there is cancer in there somewhere. So, we wait again to see how things go during the 4-hour operation. Did someone power up that darn roller coaster again?

In the meantime, here in Idaho, we are in a home improvement frenzy. We recently re-financed our house (and were stunned when it appraised for over $100,000 more than we paid for it less than 4 years ago). We financed a little more than we owed so we’d have cash back to purchase an old truck (making Catie very happy since that means she won’t have to ride the bus to or from school at all during her senior year), and fund some home improvement projects. So far, we’ve painted Catie’s room – surprised her with a newly decorated room when she returned from serving as staff at a Civil Air Patrol Regional Leadership Seminar. She has wanted her room to be blue with clouds for some time now. I had her pick out the shade of blue a while back, so that we could stealth paint while she was gone. We decided to mix it up a bit and painted the inset part of a wall with a window seat yellow, and also painted one other wall yellow. The other two walls as well as the non-inset part of the wall with the window seat was painted her shade of blue and I dutifully clouded it up. It looks really cute. The previous owner of our house was more into frou-frou than I am, so Catie’s window covering consisted of fabric pleated blinds topped by a lacy thing with fringe. The lacy thing is now in the yard-sale pile and we replaced it with long pieces of blue and yellow sheer fabrics twisted artfully around a curtain rod and knotted at the bottom of the window. Looks cool. Catie loved it! We went in search of the perfect comforter this weekend and after scouring the mall for something reasonably priced that would work in her room, we found the perfect match: It’s a cloudy sky comforter! Looks like it was made for the room. Yippee! One room down….

Right now, the downstairs bathroom, entry to the garage and laundry room (all adjacent to each other) are in the process of a major face-lift. Joe took out the vanity and toilet and is in the process of ripping up the linoleum and underlayment so that we can tile. We’re putting a dark sage green tile in all three areas. The bathroom and laundry room will have a beadboard wainscoting painted a shade just lighter than the tile and the wall above the wainscoting will be a light sage green. We bought a nice white vanity and are going to purchase a toilet that hopefully will not require a plunger at the ready like all of the toilets in our house (darn cheap low flow toilets!). Joe plans on having it done by the time he goes back to work Thursday. Drop dead completion time is two weeks from yesterday, when our next exchange student arrives. Since this is “Katrin’s bathroom” we’re working on, would be nice if she could use it when she gets here!

Next up will be David’s room. We’re going to faux paint the lower part of his walls to look like denim, top it with a chairrail, and paint the upper part a yet-to-be-decided color. I’m going to make denim curtains that shut with a zipper, and some denim throw pillows. I think it will look great when it’s done. Of course, he’s been informed that no work will commence until his room is spotless, so who knows when we’ll get started on that project! He is the master procrastinator when it comes to cleaning his room.

scuslidge @ 2006-07-21T16:00:00

2006-07-21T22:01:12Z

Well, I feel like I just got off a heck of a roller coaster ride. Got news on Tuesday that doctors said my father had bile duct cancer. Looked it up on the Internet and was pretty horrified (apparently, it rarely presents symptoms until it’s too late to do anything except make the patient as comfortable as possible). Tried to stay upbeat and believe that results of a CAT scan would show that it was indeed still operable and said operation would go well and things would be fine. At the same time, informing my husband that if the news was not good, I wanted to spend Christmas in Colorado instead of having his father join us.

My dad just called me and said that the biopsy results came in and HE DOES NOT HAVE CANCER!!! What a relief. They are still waiting for the CAT scan results, which will hopefully indicate what is really wrong, but just knowing it’s not cancer was an incredible load off my mind. I feel elated and exhausted at the same time.