Rough Out Boots--Monday Memories

Digger always wore black shiny, pull on work boots.

Always.


One year, when my brother and I were both married and living in Utah, Digger began a campaign for new boots. He would say, "Boy I sure would like some rough out boots." And then in a few days, "I have always wanted a pair of rough out boots." And so on, for about 4 or 5 months before his birthday.

Digger was never one to ask for anything, so I'm sure in retrospect he was not hinting for us to buy them for him. Rather, he was talking himself into it.

If you don't know it, rough out boots are brown and they have a rough leather exterior like unfinished leather. Well, not that rough, but anyway, they are not smooth and shiny.

So, my brother and I went together on our struggling college budget and bought him a pair of brown rough out boots, just like his shiny black ones, only brown and rough out.

We all met at his house and had lunch, then he opened his present and put the brand new brown rough out boots on and said, "Boy, these are nice, they would be nicer if they were black and shiny."

My brother, boxed them up, went back to the store and got him a pair of black shiny boots. Have I told you--I loved Digger.

TV--Tuesday Tip

"Teens who watched just 21 extra minutes of TV daily were more likely to become depressed as young adults, compared with those who watched less (2 hours and 38 minutes vs. 2 hours and 27 minutes), according to a recent study. Could it be a chicken-and-egg situation? Maybe, but research did exclude anyone who was depressed at the start. And really limiting the amount of TV anyone watches is never a bad thing."

Woman's Day July 2009

When our oldest child was just 8 years old, our TV "broke" and we just never got around to fixing it. As a consequence, our children played outside, used their imaginations, learned to communicate with other family members, became readers, yes and even studied the scriptures. I highly recommend you break your TV.

The first week is the hardest, the silence is deafening, but the adjustment was worth it.

Grandparenting--What I Saw Wednesday

I saw grandparents sitting beside each other enjoying Sacrament Meeting.

I saw grandpa go out to the lobby and come back with 3 grandchildren hanging on him.

I saw grandma move over and put one on each side and grandpa with one on his side.

I saw the children climbing up and down, hugging and pinching. I saw the children crawl under the bench. I saw the children sing the songs.

I saw the grandparents hugging and kissing the grandchildren. I saw the grandparents give up on trying to listen to the talks, I saw the grandparents look at each other with knowing looks. I saw the grandparents try not to laugh.

I saw a family full of love and I understood.

Unity of Purpose--What I Saw Wednesday

I start with a quote from Tarzan "This is something to put in your fricken' blog."

It all started when Tarzan decided our son-in-law needed to borrow his tractor. We had no idea how difficult it would be to get it there. After two days of phone calls and being told repeatedly that the cost would be over $800 or that--what we wanted to do was not allowed--he finally made a personal trip to U-Haul and was assured that his pickup would pull the trailer they rented him and that a 1,000 pound tractor added to it would be fine--all for just $90.

Are you getting the picture?

When I got home from work Friday night, Tarzan had our little 6-banger Dodge pickup loaded with the tractor strapped down on the trailer. We packed up some food, drink, ice, and dog (Dottie) and started on the short and familiar 4 1/2 hour trip.

We were not able to go over 45 miles per hour. Each time we approached 45 mph, the trailer started to sway left and right. It was like being on a ride at Disneyland only scarier because we had so little control.

I hope you can picture it in you mind--freeway, large semi's going too fast, impatient fellow drivers in cars, trucks and motorcycles, honking and waving at us inviting us to get off the road. We left home at 6:00 p.m. we arrived at the half way point at 1:00 a.m. 7 hours and we were only half way on a 4 1/2 hour trip.

We stopped and spent the night at a truck stop motel. We took Dottie into the room with us and didn't ask permission. Tarzan went out and hunted for food while I crashed in the room. We were still speaking to each other.

Here is an interesting little tidbit about our weekend. I forgot to bring any hair products including a pick so not only did I have dirty hair, I had tangled hair. Stopping at a drug store was not on the list of possibilities. AND we could not turn on the air conditioning because it took needed power from the engine AND it was over 100 degrees all day and just barely down to 100 after the sun went down. Are you getting a better picture now?

Saturday morning we started out at 5:00 a.m. and another 7 hours later, the pickup decided it could not possibly pull the tractor another inch. I tried praying and repeating "I think I can, I think I can" but the answer to our prayers came in the way so many prayers are answered, someone came to our rescue...

There we were stopped going up hill (only 5 feet from the top) and the clutch started to smoke. The truck was going nowhere but backward down the hill. I called the kids to let them know but lost reception before I could tell them. Tarzan, got out and put rocks behind the wheels of the trailer so it wouldn't roll back down the hill. I got out and directed traffic.

The hill curved right at the bottom and left at the top, there was a double yellow line and people were just whizzing around us with no thought of what was coming over the hill toward them. I saw two near accidents. I began stopping traffic coming up behind us when there were cars coming over the hill toward us and averted any incidents.

I no sooner stepped out to direct traffic then our son-in-law came down the hill. He may as well have been on a white horse wearing a coat of armor. However, if it had not been a Clydesdale it would not have been an answer to our prayers. He has a big, high powered, SUV and they had just put a hitch on the back of it the day before.

The two men unhooked the trailer from our pickup and you could physically see our pickup bounce into position with relief from the load. We were able to move the pickup and hook up the SUV. It easily pulled the tractor over the hill and the final short distance to their home.

Another 7 hours and Tarzan and I were still speaking to each other.

We unloaded the tractor, played with the grand kids, hugged the kids and took off for a faster trip home.

But wait, not so fast--literally.

We still had the trailer connected to our truck to be returned to the dealer that evening. If we were dragging an elephant before, we were now dragging at least a hippopotamus. We never were able to get up to 70 mph and we didn't realize how exhausted we were.

We stopped after less than 100 miles. We decided we needed to get rid of the trailer before we ruined the clutch on the pickup. However, U-Haul had no interest in a return to a location where we did not pick it up and were going to TRIPLE the charges for renting the trailer if we left it there rather than drag it all the way back home. We left in disgust and decided to chance it with the trailer.

We knew we couldn't make it any further that night and got another motel room. We dragged ourselves to dinner and crashed at 8:00 p.m. We slept through the night without moving, even Dottie was worn out but we were still speaking to each other.

We got up and started home at 6:00 a.m. I had washed my hair with the shampoo and creme rinse in the room and combed through it with my fingers. Now, I had clean hair but with windows down, I soon looked like a crazy woman from a silent movie. We started out with, what would normally take us, just over 3 hours left on our trip. It took 6 hours to arrive home and we were still speaking to each other.

When we have a unity of purpose, we both have the ability to put everything else out of the picture and focus on what we have to accomplish and remember our family motto "If we are not having fun, why bother."

We are home safe, still speaking and even laughing at ourselves for making such a dangerous trip. One of Tarzan's fishing buddies called us while we were on the road and after Tarzan explained what we had been through, he asked to speak to me. He said, "I want a woman like you." I can't type the rest of what he said but in his way it was a great compliment to my ability to take what Tarzan dishes out.

Get Closer to Your Kids--Thursday Thought

I found this in Woman's Day this month and thought it was worth repeating.

"In her new book, Real Solutions for Busy Moms, Kathy Ireland reveals how she does it:

Getting our three kids ready and off to school in the morning can be hectic. On those days, everyone feels a bit crabby and frazzled (including me). I have a rule for the car: Video games and cell phones, including mine, get turned off. Our drive to school takes about 12 minutes, and for that short period, I talk with the kids about what's going on in their lives. Sometimes we'll play word games too. By the time we arrive at school, frowns have turned into smiles, worries have faded away, and the kids are ready to tackle a new day. When we're in that bubble, we're insulated from the world's pressures. It our time to focus on each other."

I tried to find a link to it on the net, but no such luck so this credit is in lieu of a link.

Screaming Kids--Tuesday Tip

When your children are out of control, maybe hitting, biting and/or screaming is going on, try just smiling at them and hugging them tight. It is amazing how much that dispells the mood.

When one child hurts another. Put the child on your lap who did the hurting and hug the hurt child up close to your side and tell them you know they didn't mean to hurt each other and please try to be nice. Kiss the hurt one and let him/her tell you what happened, hug the one who did the hurting and remind them that they need to be nice to each other.

If you spend more time kissing and hugging your children than correcting them, they will learn they are loved at home.

I remember once I was correcting one of my children after a FHE. We had a big STOP sign put up to remind us to stop bad behavior. One of the children was acting up and I jerked the 3 year old child up to the sign and angrily said, "remember what that sign is for, you need to stop this angry behavior." As I said it, I softened my tone realizing I was reinforcing that behavior in the child by my angry response to unaccepable behavior.

Since that time, I have worked daily to temper my responses to various situations and, while I don't aways succeed, I find many times my smile makes everyone feel better.

What I Saw Wednesday--Happiness

After going to the Happiest Place On Earth (Disneyland) we went to visit the family with the Uncles in tow. Disneyland made us happy, but nothing can compare to the happiness the family brings.

What happiness filled our hearts to see them all. This picture is the first of its kind. The Uncles have never seen the Grandchildren and have not seen the children since they were the age of these grandchildren.

It is a little fuzzy because I had to lighten it to get all the skin tones in. If anyone has a hint on taking photos of mixed races all together, I could sure use them.

On the front row you will see Jordyn, Kylee, Uncle Walter and Lee William

Standing up you will see Landau, Uncle Jerry, Dau, Tarzan, Leisa, and Keith.

Behind the camera is Sandi

Digger--A Monday Memory

I was thinking about my grandfather. Let me give you a little background about him:

We called him Digger in my family. Other grandchildren called him Gramp, but he was always Digger to me. Digger got his nickname because when he was a young man, he drove a digging machine in construction jobs. Besides, he hated his real name, he used to turn up his upper lip and sneer as he said it "Linsey Clair."

Digger was one tough hombrea. He never hugged you. If you were hurt and started to cry, and the two of you were alone in a room, he would say, "come here and I'll see if you're hurt." The most affection I remember getting from Digger was a thump on the head with his big, index finger. He would get sick of having the children in the house and he would say (as he thumped you on the head) "Down in the hole, kid." That meant go down in the basement apartment he had built as a rental for college students but it always had a family member living in it.

He gave the appearance of being gruff and tough, but he was really a softy inside. We all witnessed it from time to time as he came to our individual defense over one thing or another when he viewed one of us as having been wronged by someone or something. He was adorable. I loved him dearly.

Several years after Granner died, he moved in with my Aunt Pat. I lived close by. He would call me on the phone and say, "Come and get me" and hang up the phone. I would, of course, drive right over and pick him up. We would go to the bank so he could deposit his Social Security check (he said he didn't want Aunt Pat to know how much money he had--that always made me smile knowing she didn't care one way or the other). We would go to the drive up window, I would deposit his check for him and then he would take me to McDonald's and buy my lunch.

But the real story is here.

I was taking some college classes and the parking was aweful, so I would drive to Aunt Pat's house and park my car, get my bike and ride right up to class. When I returned, I always stopped at the house to say hello.

One day, upon returning from school, I knocked on the door and, as usual, called out the phrase all the women in my family use--"Yoohoo, Honey, I'm Home." Digger was asleep in a chair just around the corner from the front door. He woke up and stepped around the corner. I was standing in the doorway with the sun full force behind me. He saw me and said, "Where have you been, I have been searching all over for you." He then put both arms around me and gave me a full body hug.

I said, "Well, Digger, I've just been at school." He immediately pushed me away, cleared his through and tried to dismiss the situation.

I told my Mom about it and she agreed, he thought I was Granner. It is one of the tender moments I keep in the box, all women have in their brains, that holds precious memories.

Do you have a box? What do you have in your box?

I am thankful

When I was a young married woman and staying home with my children, I got caught up in soap operas. In one of “my shows” a girl got pregnant by one brother, who then went off to war and went missing, so she married the other brother to be the father of her baby because he was the only one she told about the baby, then the father of the baby turned up alive and came back to a bewildered woman who couldn’t decide who she really loved. Well, the evil girl in the show decided to see who the woman really loved and invited her and the father of her child >> but not her husband >> to a party. The woman with the baby had refused to talk to the father of the child and her husband, the brother of the father of the baby, refused to talk to him about it. The woman was asked if she was going to go without her husband, when they all knew the reason for the invitation was to catch her in a love triangle, and she decided to go simply to prove that she loved her husband, dun-dun-dun.

I quit watching soaps after that.

So, I said to myself how stupid that was that something so personal could go on in a family and they couldn’t just talk to each other about it. Throughout my life, I have had to relearn that lesson over and over. It is difficult to talk to people you love about problems in your relationships. This weekend, once again, I learned the value of speaking up; the reality that not saying anything, because you don’t want to offend someone, only magnifies the problem; that family love is strong and can perpetuate forgiveness even in the worst of circumstances.

I am thankful for family.

Men and Their Toys

Have you ever been working with a man and had him freeze in his tracks because you asked him a question about something that he had not been thinking about?

Did he become incapable of working and sputter, “uh, uh” and get a little irritated?

Have you ever been working with a man, while he tried to get a piece of big-fancy equipment to work so he could blow out the leaves from the porch, and you got the broom and swept the area clean before he could get it going, and then he was disappointed that he didn’t get to use his blower?

Have you ever been working with a man, while he was trying to get a sprayer to work so he could spray an even layer of cleanser on the refrigerator you are cleaning up, and you got a bucket of water and a bottle of spray cleaner, and cleaned it before he could get his sprayer to work?

What is with guys and their need to have “the right tool do to the job?”

Harris Morley's Baptism

This weekend our grandson, Harris Morley, got baptized. Tarzan and I got to attend in Texas. We love Harris. He has an insatiable curiosity for life. He is smiling all the time. Harris has a tender heart and when you visit him, he is always sad when you leave. After the baptism, we all sat around and talked about memories. It was fun and the meal Tori and Bob cooked was awesome. Two of Harris’ friends were being baptized on the same day. I didn’t think to get a picture of all of them together. I have to get better at this picture taking thing. Here are the fun pictures I got. Remember, I never wait for posing.

Tarzan, Grandi and Harris, the official picture. New Suit, new shirt, new tie, new shoes, Wow.

Tarzan is loosening up for the teasing to start (with Maddison and Amber).

My sister is on the left, Tarzan is talking to Maddison. The other man is their home teacher.


Now, there is a series of pictures of Harris, being Harris. See the twinkle in his eyes?

After the baptism, Maddison, Papa, Tori (my daughter in pink)

There’s my Amber in the pink blouse. Isn’t she a cutie?



Here is my Maddison. She is so grown up. She has totally turned into a beautiful young woman.

Harris got the best present from his Home Teacher. He got a bag with a scout night light. It was green and could be clipped on to anything in a tent so you could see in the tent at night and it had an emergency handbook with it. He also got a prayer pillow that said “Brush your teeth, say your prayers and read your scriptures.” What a great guy.
My Harris

My Sister, Inez in the yellow blouse, and her friend, Daniella, Harris, and Bob (Harris’s Dad), Papa and the Home Teacher are in the background.
I love this picture of Harris standing among the brethern. He is part of the "club" now. In four short years he will hold the Priesthood. This is Harris, Papa (on the left) and the fabulous Home Teacher behind Harris.

Nellie B. Bagley April 10, 1929 – July 10, 2008

I first met Nellie B. when Tarzan sent me to the airport to pick her up. She was flying from Tennessee to meet his new wife--me. I was standing right at the gate where the passengers unloaded (pre 9/11) and watched as each person unloaded from the airplane. Not one black woman got off. Only one person escaped my "perusal." It was a woman who whizzed past me in a wheelchair not even looking left or right like she was looking for someone. My mother-in-law was not in a wheelchair.

The last person got off the airplane and I timidly stepped up to the girl at the door and asked if there was anyone else on the plane. She went down the breezeway and checked--no one left on the airplane.

I started to cry. My first meeting with my mother-in-law and I lost her.

I rushed to the baggage claim area while dialing Tarzan's sister on the phone to see if she actually got on the airplane. She got all excited and said, "You lost my Mama?" I told her I would call her back and called Tarzan to confess that I had lost her. Just then I saw a little black lady with a white cap on standing and casually waiting for her luggage. With Tarzan on the phone, I hesitantly walked up to her and asked her if she was Nelie B. She gave me her big friendly smile and said "yeeaaaa, how youuu baaaeebeee" with a heavy southern drawl. I was instantly in love. Then I heard Tarzan screaming in the phone, "Did you find her?"

I came to my senses and told him she was the lady in the wheelchair. Then handed her the phone so he could talk to her. Tarzan was still hyperventilating so he yelled at his mom, "Why didn't you tell me you were in a wheelchair?" She just calmly told him, "Weeellll, they awfered me a wheeelchaeeer and Iiii couldn't see aneee reeeeasun ta wawlk if Iiii didn't half ta."

We hugged and were fast friend from that moment on. We lovingly referred to Tarzan as a heathen, we shopped together, had a pedicure together, cooked together, laughed together and all the while she was worried that she would get in our way. She couldn’t have been more wrong. We loved having her with us.

We got her to visit us one more time and tried our best to get her to stay with us. We almost had her convinced and then Thanksgiving came around and we called back home where the whole family in Tennessee had gathered. She heard all the commotion with the grandchildren and great grandchildren and said she wanted to go home.

About two years later her health began to fail. We visited her in January this year and we were shocked to see how ill she was, but at that time, they were still getting her up and letting her sit in a chair off and on during the day. In March, Tarzan went back to see her and she was completely bedridden. We decided to get her to move in with us and made the plan to pick her up in June. We remodeled her room to make it more friendly to a bedbound person and then went to get her. When we arrived in June, we knew she would not survive a 3-day car trip to our house so we gave up on the idea of ever having her live with us. I arranged to have hospice come in and care for her on a daily basis. They were awesome and really relieved some of the burden from the family.

Now, she is gone. We went back to Tennessee for the week of the funeral. It was such a wonderful week. Everyone was so kind to me, personally. I had the privilege of helping get her ready for burial. This brings me to the fun story from the funeral…

There were five of us at the funeral home,
Bettie, her daughter,

Asta, her granddaughter

and Wasyta, her granddaughter

Von, Bettie’s friend


and me. We went to the funeral home to fix Nellie’s hair. Asta is a beautician. We were all standing around the body, Asta was curling her hair, Von and I were holding her hands while Wasyta painted her nails and Bettie was just looking on in dismay. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion in the room, the noise was really loud and sparks flew everywhere. Then one of the lights went out. Asta jumped and ran out of the room, Wasyta backed up against the wall with her eyes wide as silver dollars and Von and I stood there shaking and looking around, neither of us wanted to drop her hands because it would ruin her nail polish. Bettie recovered first and started to laugh. Asta came back in the room and said “I’m sorry Grandmama, I didn’t mean to burn you.” Wasyta said, “What are we doing that you don’t like Grandmama, do you want a different color of nail polish?” We all agreed that if Nellie B. was around, she would want us to know and she would want us to be happy. After that, the mood lightened up and we all had a good time getting her ready for the funeral. She would have wanted it that way.

If anyone loved life, it was Nellie B. She was quick to laugh and said what was on her mind. I will really miss her and my only regret is that she didn’t come into my life sooner.

Oh, man, talk about contrast

Two weekends ago traveling in Ireland

One weekend ago camping in Arizona This past weekend in Memphis.

These last two pictures are of my dear sweet mother-in-law. I put them here as a reminder -- whoever your mother is, she won't be here, healthy and laughing forever. Please call your mother and let her know you love her. Forgive her for whatever you think she did to offend you and move on with your life with peace of mind and love in your heart. My only regret for my mother-in-law is that I didn't get to know her longer--before she got so sick. The little time I did spend with her was a great delight. Even in this frail condition, she is a delight to be around. "Hi, Mom, how you doin'?" "Hey, baaaybee, Iii'm jesss fiiiine. How you doin'?" and later "I love you baaaybee." Her heavy southern accent draws out words of love. I love her dearly.

This trip was a reminder that Tarzan and I need to enjoy my mother more while she is still healthy so we continue to amass lots of good memories to carry with us.

Camping with Tarzan

Before we were married, Tarzan invited me to go camping. He was retired and I was still working so the plan was this. Tarzan would get everything ready, I would go to work and when I got off work, we would leave for the mountains.

After work, I hurried home, changed cloths and drove to Tarzan's house. I knocked on the door and after several, long minutes he answered. He was sitting in the dark with his computer in a bazillion pieces. He simply said, "Oh, is it 5:00 o'clock?"

He had done NOTHING to get ready to go camping. He threw a hammock in the Jeep. We drove together to my house and I got a few blankets and a pan to cook with and off we went. I must have been in love...

When we got up north, Tarzan stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken to get dinner. Hmmmmm, not what I had thought dinner at a camp site would be. Then, I suggested we might want to stop at a grocery store before heading into the woods in case he didn't catch enough fish for breakfast. He was a little incensed, but he must have been in love too...we stopped and bought breakfast food, paper plates and plastic ware.

When we got to the campsite it was dark. Tarzan pulled out his hammock and strung it up so high you had to stand on the Jeep to get in it. We each had our own blankets so we climbed into the hammock for the night. Once we were both in, we both rolled to the middle and were plastered against each other--no room for movement. The temperature began to drop and our measly blankets became less and less effective. We could not generate enough body heat to keep each other warm, so Tarzan got out of the Hammock, giving me all the blankets and then...

HE GOT IN THE JEEP AND TURNED ON THE HEATER. I must have been in love...

That didn't last long, he began to feel guilty and climbed back in the hammock to try and keep me warm. What we didn't know was that there was a flash flood in the night and all the people who were closer to the stream and lower on the ground got flooded out. It was a mess.

In the morning I built a fire and cooked breakfast, Tarzan was duly impressed. We went gold panning and four-wheeling and had a wing-ding of a time.

Now, this past weekend...

We have now been married for nine years. Tarzan says on Wednesday, "do you want to go fishing with me?" I say, "I'd love to." See, he usually goes with the guys, but none of them were available.

When Tarzan goes fishing with the guys he spends 4 or 5 days getting ready. He did nothing to get ready to go with me. So, to make a long story short, we left the house at 8:00 a.m. and did not arrive at the camp site (which is 30 minutes from our home) until 5:00 p.m. What we were doing is of no consequence except to make it very clear that the reason it took us so long was directly related to Tarzan's lack of preparation.

I must still be in love...

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

What a beautiful day. The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, we are both feeling healthy and happy. Tarzan and I are loving life. We started our day with a retirement meeting to find out what we need to do to get ready for retirement and other details. It was a good meeting, not a waste of time at all. We are in good shape and happy with our circumstances. Last night we had a wonderful discussion about our plans for the house and we continued that today as we drove around town looking at new construction going on.

We drove by our old home and visited with the new owner and the old neighbors. What a fun day we were having. Then Tarzan remembered he wanted to show me a piece of property for sale that we may want to buy for investment. We drove to the old part of Glendale, the part that is quaint and fun to be in.

We parked the car and got out to walk around the property that was for sale. There were two tri-plexes and a house. As we got out of the car, I said, “Wow, what a beautiful neighborhood. What a fun place to be.” We walked over to the box with the information sheets in it and I took out a sheet and told Tarzan to guess how much they wanted for it. He guessed a million dollars.

Before I could tell him the price was much lower than that, he walked over to a grapefruit tree that was on the corner, and not inside a fence, and tried to get a grapefruit off of it. A woman in one of the apartments knocked on the window and said “Don’t do that to the tree.”

Tarzan, “I was just trying…”
Woman, “I know what you were doing. Don’t do that. This is private property”

Just then a man came out. If I were going to describe him, I would say he was poor white trash. Now, I would not normally describe someone that way, but I am still pretty mad.

He said, “This is private property.” We were standing on the sidewalk now.

I said, “We were looking to buy this property.”

White man to Tarzan, “You have no right to steal fruit from me. This is private property.”

Tarzan, laughs and says, “Okay, I’ll come back tonight and steal it when you aren’t looking.”

White man , “If you come back tonight, I’ll shoot you.” He turns to the woman and says “Call the police.” Granted, it was not a good time for Tarzan to be clever.

Tarzan say, “Go ahead.”

I mumble, “This is ridiculous.”

I said, “What are you calling the police for?”

White man, “You are trying to steal from me.”
Me, “You just threatened to kill him.”

We got in our car to leave. White woman, “Get their license plate.” White man ran to the back of our car to get our license plate. I rolled down my window and gave it to him so he didn’t have to go all the way to the back of the car and said again, “This is ridiculous. We are planning to buy this property and you will be the first tenants we move out.”

White woman, “We own this property and you aren’t buying it from us.”

We have had small instances of prejudice against us, mostly veiled, never so openly and blatantly racist. This was aimed at Tarzan, as a black man, simply because he was black. They could have cared less about me. The man had the word “nigger” nearly exploding from his mouth. He didn’t say it, but it was all over his face.

For the first time in my life, I want to get revenge. I want to cause them to pay for the cruelty they showed to my sweet Tarzan. How dare they? How indignant I am. What humiliation to have someone talk to you that way, treat you like you are less of a person than they for no reason. Tarzan reminded me that this was not the first time he had experienced it and by the time we got home, he was chuckling about it.

I say there are two good things about this (1) they lost a cash sale and (2) they will be up all night looking for a car like ours to stop and steal one of their precious grapefruits.

How children view what is fun...

Wow! Did I miss the boat on this one. At the end of the week in Texas, I had 3 days to play with my grandchildren in California. I was tired after my big week in Texas so I decided to take the children out for every meal. The last night we had together, I said, in my best, fun, grandma voice, "Hey, I have a great idea. Let's have a progressive dinner."

"What's that?"

"Well, you have each course of the meal at a different restaurant. You start at one restaurant and have appetizers and then you go to another restaurant and have soup or salad..."

"We don't like Souper Salad."

"No, not the restaurant Souper Salad, you get your choice if you want soup or salad."

"I don't like soup or salad."

"Okay, you don't have to have anything at that restaurant."

"I will put 4 pieces of paper in a hat and we will each draw out one of the courses for the meal. Then you get to pick what restaurant we will go to for your part of the meal."

"I get P.F. Chang."

"Wait until you find out what course you get."

"I get to pick the dessert place."

"No, we are going to, oh never mind. I'll show you."

I wrote Appetizer, Soup/Salad, Entre, Dessert on 4 separate pieces of paper and we each drew one out.

"Oh, I got entre, can we trade?"

"No, let's just go and see what happens."

We agreed on a mall where there were lots of eating establishments and started with Sasha who had picked Appetizers.

"I pick Starbucks. Does a Vanilla Steamer count as an appetizer?"

"If that's what you want, that's what we'll do."

4 Vanilla Steamers, no 3 Vanilla Steamers and one Carmel Apple hot something or other.

"Ooow, I don't like it." "Okay, I'll have the Carmel Apple hot something or other. You can have my Vanilla Steamer."

California Pizza Kitchen was picked for the Soup or Salad. No one liked their soups, no one liked their salads. There were no whiners and no one making a fuss, just looks of confusion about what to do since they were supposed to have soup or salad and that wasn't working out. I said, "How about a bowl of rice, you all like rice." Everyone agreed, but remember we were at California Pizza Kitchen-----no rice. $21 worth of buttered pasta later, we decided to go to the movie and have hot dogs and candy for the entre and dessert.

Movie had already started. I was in no mood to stand in the wind for 2 hours to wait for the next one. So, without complaint we all agreed to go to Cold Stone Creamery and have whatever they wanted--no restrictions.

I didn't bother to look at that bill, but I had a chcolate covered cone with nuts on it filled with chcolate ice cream with Ghirardelli dark chocolate carmel filled pieces broken up in it and small chocolate chips. No interest in bubble gum, cottom candy or sour green apple for me.

Next time, I'll let them come up with the bright ideas. Never let it be said that any of my grandchildren are not independent thinkers or afraid to say what they want. I forsee a generation of indepdendent, individuals, leading the pack and confident in who they are and what they want.

Now, be sure you understand, this was a fun, pleasant, learning experience for me. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

What I did Monday

Feed children
Pack lunches
Drive to 2 different schools to deliver children
Grocery Shopping
Buy present for birthday party Friday
Vacuum
Answer e-mail
Grade Papers
Fix lunch
Grade Papers
Get Amber and Harris off the bus

At this point, we were all sitting in the kitchen having after school snacks when I heard a far away whine. It was so distinct that I asked Tori what it was. She jumped up out of her chair and her eyes got really wide and she said, "I bet it is the tornado warning." I thought she was joking, it was just barely sprinkling outside, hardly what I would think was a serious storm of any kind. We turned on the Weather channel and sure enough, we were right in the middle of a tornado warning. They said our town had about 20 minutes before we were in danger, so we jumped in the car and ran to school to pick up Maddison. Within about 2 minutes the rain was so heavy I couldn't see the road. I drove carefully to the school and we got Maddison. As we started home, we got some hail and then suddenly, and while the rain was still pouring down on us, the sun came up on one side of the valley and shown like crazy. So one side of the car was drenched in sunlight while the other side of the car was in the rain clouds.

When we got home there was still hail on the lawn, the wind was blowing and the rain was subsiding while the sun continued to shine down like crazy. We all went in the house to watch the weather channel and just like that it was over. Whew! I haven't been in a tornado ever. Hurricanes, yes, but tornados never.

The thing that made this so scary was the children. I think any man in this situation would have said, the children are safe at school. Let's wait until the storm passes and then go pick them up. Our maternal instinct was to get them with us so we could be in charge of their safety. Maybe not the smartest move, but we had checked to be sure we had a window of opportunity for safety before busting forth.

The rest of my activities for the evening pale in comparison to that one hour in our day.

So, how was your Monday?

What I did Saturday

These pictures are for the family. Amber Morley (She is No. 1) is a chip off the old block. Look at those serves, look at the intensity with which she place. Awesome. Just like Mom.

The Americna Girl Store is a racket and I am a sucker

What a ride...

• 6:30 a.m. dropped off Tarzan at the airport for a trip to see his Mom in Memphis, TN
• 7:30 a.m. phone call. Tarzan did not have a seat on the flight. They had overbooked and even though he was there 2 hours early, he was on standby.
• 7:45 a.m. phone call. Tarzan is informed that they had standby passangers who had been delayed on another flight and they got priority seating.
• 8:00 a.m. Tarzan had a seat.
• 8:30 a.m. Tarzan called from the plane
• 8:45 a.m. Tarzan was in the terminal again. They got all ready to go and had no pilot
• 9:00 a.m. Tarzan was back on the airplane and ready for takeoff.
• 11:45 a.m. Tarzan was back in Arizona. The got about 20 minutes out and the pilot announced they had problems with the flaps and he was going back. Tarzan reported the hardest landing he has ever experienced in his life. He kissed the ground when he got off the plane.
• 1:15 p.m. Tarzan is having lunch in the Arizona terminal. He was given a $5.00 voucher by the Airlines. His lunch cost $9.00.
• 1:30 p.m. Tarzan is now getting to know his fellow passengers and having a good time. They are working on the airplane.
• 2:00 p.m. I called Tarzan, no news, they are all just sitting around waiting.
• 2:15 p.m. I called Tarzan and his voice mail was on. I hope he is on the airplane.
• 2:30 p.m. only voice mail available
• 4:00 p.m. only voice mail available
• 4:30 p.m. watching news to see if their have been any airplane wrecks today
• 4:37 p.m. "WORST FLIGHT OF MY LIFE" Tarzan says he was in an exit row, the seats did not recline, there was no tray for your drink he had a little "trainer tray." There was a big 300 pound guy sitting next to him trying to help with his little tray making him feel like an idiot, the seat was hard and his (excuse me here) ass is numb so someone could pick his pocket and he wouldn't even know it. Needless to say, he was not in a good mood. I just hope the Hertz agent is friendly.

The chain around my neck

I promised to write about the chain around my neck in the school picture taken in Germany

When I was in the first grade we moved to Germany. My Dad was in the Air Force. Every day about an hour before the bell rang to go home I would start to cry uncontrollably until they would finally call my Mom and she would come to school and pick me up. This happened every day until finally my Mom got fed up and took me out to get ice cream and just sat and visited with me. She finally got me to tell her why I was crying at this specific time every day:

We lived off base in a big house with a basement, main floor, second floor and attic. It had a high rock wall around it with a gate that locked when you went out and in order to get back in, someone either had to push the button in the house to unlock it or you had to have a key.

Unbeknown to my mother, my brother, who is four years older than I, told me that some day I would come home from school and Mom would not be home and a German would kidnap me and they would never see me again.

Now, I have always believed everything my brother ever told me (let's not go into my Santa Claus stories here) so I knew it must be true. The fact that my mother did not work and I had never come home to an empty house was beside the point.

Once my Mom found out what the problem was, she had a key made for me, hung it on a chain that I could wear around my neck and I skipped off to school with no more tears. The key was one of those big old fashioned keys about 6" long. I am told that I walked bent over from the weight of the key, but no more crying.

Can you remember something specific from your childhood
that changed who you are in a positive or negative way?

Are you aware of events in the lives of
your own children that will have an impact on
their development?