Life As I Know It

This blogging everyday, well as you can tell, NOT HAPPENING!  Oh well.

This week in class I got a bit further on this sweet painting.  Hopefully it will be finished next week.

Got yet another commission, sweet Carter!  It's just started and now I wait for it to dry a bit so I can add more white. 

Snicklefritz started school this week and it was a rousing success.  She loved it and so did we.  Also, this "hasn't napped in a year girl" napped at school, both days.  Wow, I am impressed they were able to get her down.  Need to find their secret.  Unfortunately she has never been sick and second day when they got home, yesterday, she got out of the car and promptly threw-up on her momma's new shoes.  I sooo hope this is not going to be a problem.  She so far has had great immunities but we will see. 

While playing catch with her on Wednesday she turned and this pose caught my eye.  I told her to "DON'T MOVE" and snapped this beauty.   

Snicklefritz

Yesterday was all about Snicklefritz and I am quite happy about it.  As I've written before, I watch her on Monday and Wednesday's while her momma teaches at the local community college and we usually have great fun.  Well, her momma is gearing up to add Tuesday and Thursday's to her schedule but I had to tell her I CANNOT watch Snicklefritz.  It's not that I mind but I have art on Tuesday's and sometimes on Thursday's and on Thursday's I try to make any appointments like doctors, nails, hair, lunches, etc.  So the hunt was on for a sort of day care for her.  I felt it was time anyway to engage her more with interacting with kiddos her own age in a different setting.  There's just so much a Granny can do and entertain a 3 year old.  So after her momma checking out some places on the Google and the phone one was at the top of the list.  We took a tour yesterday morning.  It's close to all of us and the office (plus)!  We went into the area that would be her level of kids and Snicklefritz just walked in and made herself at home.  We went into the director's office and she said Snicklefritz would be fine.  Talk, talk, talk, then we stepped out to check on her and there she was in the reading ring, sitting among kids her own age, eating a snack and totally engaged with the storytelling.  Awwwwww, PERFECT!  She was having a grand time and we knew it was going to be a challenge to even get her out of there.  We had found it!  I told B I would help in the money if needed as I felt that Snicklefritz needed this.  She is a very smart little girl and I can only do so much to get her educated.  So next week Snicklefritz starts "school" as she calls it.  She is very excited.

Back To School Shopping

One of the writing prompts today from Mama's Losin' It! is to share a back to school memory.  Now you know since I am a bit older these memories go way, way back to that dusty file cabinet I call my brain.  

Back to school memory, well that takes me to many back to school memories that were basically the same every single year.  Shopping for school clothes and some of the battles that ensued.  First of all we weren't the richest people so Granny bought most of our back to school attire, including a new coats and shoes.  The shopping destination was in Tulsa, and since we lived in Broken Arrow that was an all day excursion, drive time, shopping time and EATING time.  Our usual stomping grounds was the Sears store at 21st & Yale and I think the only place around for that kind of thing.  There were a few stores in Broken Arrow for clothes shopping but they were mostly jeans, boots, you know, country-cowboy-country living kind of clothes.  And for goodness sake we lived on Main Street, we were city kids...Hahahaha!  Sears had everything you could imagine, much like the Sears catalog that you would get before there was an actual store.  Since it was in the 60's and 70's the dress code were mostly dresses and sweet sweaters for little girls.  That also meant sensible play shoes like Mary Jane's, socks, panties and slips.  For Bro it was jeans, shirts, underwear, socks and tennis shoes.  We would also be able to get one fancy dress or dress clothes for the dressier kind of days and of course a brand new coat if it was needed.  It was exhausting for all of us but such fun to walk into the two-story Sears store.  They had an escalator and we thought that was great fun.  If I remember correctly the girls section was on the first floor and the boys upstairs, but I could be wrong.  We didn't go upstairs often.  It was fun to play in the round racks of clothes but boy could we get in trouble if we got lost.  When I was younger my mother had a hard time keeping track of me.  I would just take off and would be lost with usually them calling her name over the PA system.  I was a mess.  One time though Mother thought she would teach me a lesson and let me get lost but she had a bead on me.  She got far enough away that I started to panic because I couldn't find her.  It turned into full blown panic.  That one incident must have triggered something in me that made me a mother hen.  After that I would absolutely herd my brother and sister if they even thought of wandering off.  I still have a horrible fear of being lost, getting lost.  Especially in airports.  

The best thing about back to school shopping was going to the Sears Cafeteria for lunch.  We rarely ate out, also restaurants were few and far between, especially in Broken Arrow and goodness knows we didn't drive to Tulsa to eat out.  It was such a treat to eat in the cafeteria.  We either had the fried fish or hamburgers.  It was just heaven.  

Reflection of a Drilling

Reflecting, that is what I am doing right now, this morning.  Listening to our daughter's beautiful music before getting ready to go to the dentist for my 6 month cleaning.  I remember being so scared when I was a child of the dentist.  I used to absolutely white-knuckle the arm of the chair, much like I used to do when flying.  What brought about this fear I ask myself.  Momma took we three kid for our regular check ups and it wasn't really scary.  Mother made sure we had our teeth taken care of.  Unfortunately we had horrible teeth, like my father and his side of the family.  Momma wanted to make sure they weren't so bad that we were spitting out teeth that were rotten, like my Daddy and one of his sisters.  My aunt had such bad teeth that she had dentures before she was in her 20's.  That is BAD!  But I guess back then they didn't know that much about mouth care.  Back to the white knuckling thing.  When you are child the scary thing about the dentist are the smells and the sound of that dang drill.  It can really give a sense of unease.  

I have spent a lot of time in that chair with nearly every tooth in the back, up and down filled with various kinds of fillings, be it gold, silver or even porcelain crowns.  Cross my fingers I never have to have a root canal!  Of we three siblings the worst, crooked teeth, were mine.  I had fangs and an overlapping mess, plus a horrible cross-bite going on.  My parents could not afford braces in the day but my maternal grandparents were there to help.  They paid $1,000 to have my teeth straightened.  For three long years I was in two different kinds of retainers that the dentist tweeked and tightened every 4-6 weeks.  It also took that 3 years to pay the entire $1,000 off for my parents and grandparents but they knew that I was in dire need of the treatment.  I have to tell you though that first night, with those things in my mouth, I have never EVER had a headache that bad in my life.  I was in horrible pain.  I was then supposed to take the things (upper and lowers) out to brush my teeth but I could not get them back in and had to walk to the dentist at lunch time from school to have him put it back.  Braces were relatively new in my school so I was kind of an oddity then.  One doofus insisted on calling me snaggle-tooth for a good part of my 7th grade.  Don't know what happened to him to this day.  Having the retainers in the 7th grade was horrible for a girl who had absolutely NO self-esteem.  Plus I had just gotten over having the broken leg thing in 6th grade and out nearly 6 months of that school year plus we were then attending junior high.  Let's just say my 7th grade year, the only thing good to come out of that year was meeting my best friend then, Sharon.  In fact most of the junior high years (7-9) were a blur.  Junior high was mostly a horrible time for me as probably it is for most kiddos.  Let's see, hormones (periods), braces/retainers, teasers, boys, girls, friends...oh the list can go on.  I think those ages are the most important and the hardest on a kid.  It truly was for me.  

Rings...Not What You Think

These are not what you think.  Yesterday I spent the day organizing "my" room or rather my space.  It had come to the point I could not walk around the junk I keep accumulating in it.  I had planned on painting but that didn't happen.  I COULDN'T get to my easel!  So, starting at one corner I ended up in the closet and actually got rid of a fairly large box of junk and trash.  One of my goals was to find some pictures of my Daddy in 1953 of what they called the Junior-Senior fight that I knew were here.  I want to scan them for Facebook and him.  When I went to his house to find them, low and behold they weren't there so I knew they had to be in my stuff.  After a day of searching I FOUND them!  I also found these rings.  These are friendship rings.  My best friend Sharon gave me the one on the left when we first became close friends and the second I can't remember exactly.  I was so excited to find them, especially since we have found each other again.  It means so very much to me to have her in my life again.  I have missed her so much.  Her friendship was something I have been missing for so long.  (Hey, they still fit-different fingers but they fit!)

Wild Brew - Graduation

Saturday night The Hubby and I and B&B2 attended a fundraiser fo rthe Sutten Avian Research Center call Wild Brew.  Tons of people, food and BEER!  When you enter the venue they give you these tiny plastic glasses to sample the different beers.  I had two because I was the designated driver.  Most everyone else REALLY enjoyed themselves.  Beer's just not my bag much.  But it was fun.  The Midlife Crisis Band was on the stage and so dancing was a must, according to The Hubby. 

See the glasses were pretty tiny and they didn't even fill them very full. 

B and The Hubby taking a twirl on the dance floor.  I did my time too. UGH. 

Thursday night we attended B2's electrical trade school graduation.  That means he went to school one night a week for 4 years and worked a full time job (8,000 hours as and electrician).  His first year he was apprentice of the year!  We are very proud of him and he's very glad it is all over, except for the journeyman test.  All graduates received a ton of gifts and $125 in gift certificates!

Just Thinking

I've been thinking...oh, now that can get me into a lot of trouble.  If I have too much alone time on my hands my thinking can really bring me down and it has lately.  Dealing with Daddy, the siblings, work, construction and not hearing from friends has me in a funk.  I've been thinking a lot about my life, my growing up and what shaped the person I have become today.  Remembering the influences in my life that caused me to take certain paths of maturity.  The actions of family members and friends can certainly influence a young impressionable mind like I was.  As a little girly I was very wild and free-spirited.  Mother and Daddy had a hard time keeping me from getting into everything I could.  Momma said that I would have one hand into something and they would be "patting" my hand saying no-no while the other hand and the mind was grabbing onto something else, not even worried about the other hand and that trouble. 

One story was of them waking up one morning to find a trail throughout the house of Malt-o-Meal leading from the kitchen, over the couch, under the dining room table and down the hallway to the bathroom where I was asleep in the bathtub, hugging that box of Malt-o-Meal.  I was a busy little girl.  When did I stop being that child, one that had no fear of being in trouble.  Mother said that going shopping was a nightmare with me, that I would just take off.  One day she lost me on purpose but still had me in her line of sight.  She said I freaked out when I couldn't find her.  Maybe that is why I have a horrible fear of being lost.  That one little incident scared me for life and after that, I was the mother hen with my two siblings.  They never got so far away that I wasn't herding or corraling them together.  That is still a bad problem for me. 

First grade, six years old, sitting in Mrs. Rhodes class I can remember her going by my desk petting my very long hair. She was the nicest lady and my favorite teacher ever. I loved her and school. That world was changed when my parents decided to move to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. I was halfway through first grade and was the happiest girl ever.

We moved to the country, way out in the country.  It was a two-story farm house on a hill and was a wonderland.  We had a pig sty but no pigs.  We did have chickens, lots of wasps and snakes and a dog named Sally Rand.  (Trying to add link but won't let me...Sally Rand was a burlesque/fan dancer.  Funny that at the age of 6 I knew what that meant.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Rand)  Moving meant a whole new school and that school was in town so it was the bus for me, a whole new experience.  Living in the country and being small town and the times, 1962 or about, meant small school system too.  The bus was very scary because it was 1st grade to 12th.  The older kids were very mean and used to tie knots in my very long hair.  I made a friend on that horrible bus.  Her name was Sharon and she lived up the road from us.  Her family was still using a wood stove to cook and there were tons of kids in the house.  They reminded me a bit of Ma and Pa Kettle.  She also had a racoon for a pet.  It was awesome.  She was my protector on that bus but she couldn't protect me from school. 

The school was in a two or three story brick building with metal fire escapes through the windows that we had to practice in.  My teacher that last part of first grade was my nightmare.  I can't or won't remember her name because of the impact she made on my life, changed the person I was.  My fear of getting up in front of people or crowds was born in that classroom.  Each classroom had their own bathroom and she had a special treatment she used in that bathroom.  It involved a cake of soap.  She was unmarried, a spinster lady that should NEVER have been allowed to be near children.  One day in class I needed to go to the bathroom so bad I could not stand it but it was my turn at the chalkboard for something.  I block out a lot of stuff then.  I stood there trying to write on the board and I asked if I could go to the bathroom.  She flat out said no but I was in dire need.  I had to stand at that board and write something.  It may have been something that started with "I will not ask...".  After a very long time I couldn't hold it and wet myself in front of the whole classroom.  I was horrified and she had no sympathy sending me home on the bus in wet panties.  My mother was livid and she defended me with the principal but the damage was done.  I carried that fear of being in front of a classroom or people until my forties and still have it to an extent.  The next year that building was bulldozed and the teacher was forced into retirement. 

The precocious little girl was broken and it has taken me a lifetime to recover.  I was a complete wallflower all through my school years, never being able to come out of my shell.  It's those little incidents in our childhood that can shape our entire lives.  I'm working hard to change that, even though I'm 55 years old, I am always going to try and better myself.  See what sitting around Just Thinking can do, make you go places in your head. 

Say GoodBye

Yesterday was a sad day.  I said goodbye to a high school classmate.  First let me say that I never talked to Ken in high school but that does not mean I don't care.  I am the official contact person for our high school class.  I do the cards, flowers, used to do the newsletter and I'm the keeper of all the important info and contact info.  He passed away after a battle with lung cancer and then brain cancer.  Ken left a wife, two daughters and four granddaughters.  He was a loving father, brother, husband, and grandfather.  He was a hard worker who loved to be in the great outdoors which was evident by the place he lived, in the country in a really fixed up cabin.  Ken was a football and wrestling star in high school and a ladies man.  All of the stuff outside of high school was new to me and really most of the high school stuff as I really didn't know him at all in school.  It was so cool today to see the church filled up with former classmates from our graduating class and the classes below us and above us.  It told a lot about who he was and who we are from the small town I'm from.  His sister gave a very wonderful eulogy telling the room what a good guy Ken was.  One of our classmates I noticed at the end of the pew was just crying to beat the band.  I asked later and was told that Ken had called him about a month before to have lunch and the guy didn't have time.  He was feeling the guilt at that moment.  So sad really. 

Now I'm going to be a little bad and I may get struck down but I have to say this.  The memorial service was just wonderful and all the talk about Ken was about 15 minutes long.  I have to interject here that it also took place at a Baptist church.  Now, after the 15 minute spiel the preacher got up.  Here we go.  We were PREACHED to for the rest of the hour, 45 minutes of non-stop preaching.  Trying to save our miserable souls.  Should anyone want to give themselves to....blah, blah, blah...  I'm sorry but you can tell here that I'm NOT that kind of person.  I actually used to be heavily involved in church and all it was about but I...well, not going there.  My point is that this was a special occasion to say goodbye to a friend and family guy not be saved.  If I wanted to be preached to or saved I would go to my church and not someones memorial service.  Sorry, I'm going to step down from the soapbox and try to remember the good guy who has left his mark on this world.

Lady of Leisure

My time as a lady of leisure for summer fun is about done.  No I have no little ones beginning school.  B will begin teaching again at the junior college and so my time of freedom from the office will cease.  It happens every year and I'm used to it and I've enjoyed my time of not sitting behind the desk.  B so loves teaching and it is just a matter of time before she teaches full-time.  I don't mind working at the office with The Hubby but I've become accustomed to the time off.  Here's to back to school to EVERYONE! 

Hammock memories...

McLinky Monday at RHOK

The question this Monday from the ladies of RHOK is very interesting and makes for a lot of thought I sometimes wish to forget - Who were you in high school.  Ah, that has been a few years ago, many years ago.  I graduated in 1974...OUCH!  That is 36 years!  I am totally not the same person I was in high school.  I grew up in the era of hippies, Nixon, Watergate and the Viet Nam War.  The age of long ironed hair and no makeup, bell bottom jeans and the beginnings of the idea of ecology. 

In the Urban Dictionary, look up the word wallflower and you will probably see a picture of me.  The online dictionary states:  "a type of loner. seemingly shy folks who no one really knows. often some of the most interesting people if one actually talks to them. cute.

I met this gorgeous girl, a bit of a wallflower, but very sweet."

That is me and how I have always been described in high school.  That is not me now.  I am bold and say my peace now.  I go to every reunion we have which is every five years.  In fact, since the 15th year reunion I have headed the committe and am the class contact.  In high school I belonged to two organizations, pep club in my sophomore year (for the football season only) and the ecology club (never went to a meeting).  That is the extent of my organizations!  I was so painfully shy that I would cry in bed at night to my Daddy, "What is wrong with me.  Why don't guys like me.  I'm nice but they don't give me a chance."  I was a miserable little girl. 

Just look at me now.

This is at a multi-class reunion from 1970-1979...I was the only one from my class and I stood proudly at the at the stage and had my picture taken.

Reunion

This past weekend I went to a multi-class reunion from high school, 1970-1979.  I graduated in 1974.  So 35 years or longer since I have seen some of these people.  Don't really count the ones in my class as it turns out I was the only one in the group class picture!  There were two others there with me before the picture but they scooted out to go to the casino, and after the picture two more showed up.  It was weird and the old me would have walked out the door but the new me took the bull by the horns and headed to the front of the room, the stage, and had my picture taken with a smile on my face.  I was painfully shy in school but that is way behind me now. 

Before the reunion I was at Daddy's visiting when the doorbell rang.  Daddy didn't hear it so I went to the door and there was a guy, Daryl, class of 1972.  He used to be in Daddy's Boy Scout troup and I dated him and double-dated with him many a year ago.  It was so good to see Daryl.  He stopped by when he saw my car out front and wanted to tell Daddy what an awesome person he was and scout leader and that the group of guys in the troop were wonderful, that Daddy was a great influence in his life.  AWWWWW...it was so great for Daryl to do that.  We also got to talking about dating and I had to add that I really liked boy scouts too...wink, he said, "yes", that I was such a little cutie running around.  Uh oh, still a small crush?  Oh it was nice and he is a very, very nice guy.  We started talking also about spouses and his was in the car waiting.  Come to find out his wife went to junior high with The Hubby and graduated with our friend Gail (who passed away in '06) and in fact lived across the street from her.  Absolutely a small world.  All in all the day was nice.  Maybe next time more people from my class will show up. 

Jenks Football

I usually don't have a lot to say about high school football but today I will have to voice a little.  Ever since my girls were in high school, not at Jenks, I have heard rumors that players were "shipped" in to play for the top two schools in the state.  That they were given housing/bills paid, etc. so that the teams were set up with top notch players to win the state championships.  Well, today the rumors are much more than rumors according to the news and newpapers.  I knew it, I knew it.  It was just too good to be true.  I am very sorry for the schools and the kids for the missteps of the adults.  It is a shame and does not show good leadership at all.  We'll see how this all pans out won't we.  Jenks Football