Last Monday I became very angry with my two sons over their ungrateful attitudes. I googled "teaching gratitude" and got some good ideas about how to help them realize their many blessings. One included starting a gratitude journal. In this you have to list a few things each day that you are thankful for. I thought I would join them in this exercise. "Do as I do" sort of thing. Well, last night was a real challenge for me.
As I stepped in the door from yoga, Rachel was anxious to show me something in her mouth. She had fallen into the treadmill and let her mouth break her fall, resulting in top two permanent teeth snapping off. Roots were still firmly attached and stubs remained. Four calls to the dentist's emergency pager at Monarch Dental went unanswered. I do have a call currently in to the office manager asking for an explanation.
I tried to hop online and get advice about the dental emergency and noticed our entire network was down. This sort of thing gets extremely frustrating for my IT husband to deal with. He's about to turn 40 tomorrow and was already dealing with his youngest daughters dental issue, I thought this might set him over the top.
Little did I know it wasn't the end our troubles. I had been a quite chilly all day. Having very little willpower, I knew if I walked over to the thermostat I would jack it up, so I chalked it up to my low blood pressure and poor circulation. If I'd checked earlier, I would have realized that the furnace was malfunctioning. It was down to 61 degrees at 9 p.m., the time my dear husband investigated the matter. At this moment, I am eagerly awaiting the Mitchell's Heating and Cooling serviceman to arrive for his noon-2p.m. appointment.
Corrie Ten Boom in her book, The Hiding Place, writes about how after reading 1 Thessalonians, her sister gave thanks for the fleas that infested their dwelling because it kept the guards away. I am in no way insinuating my circumstances are anywhere near as bad as what they had to endure, I am only following their example.
I am thankful that:
1. we are lucky enough to have a dental plan to cover most of the cost of her two caps. Only $120 out of pocket.
2. there was enough tooth left that they could be capped
3. today is payday
4. I had someone to cuddle with to get through the cold night
5. the furnace issue came up before the weekend
6. today is payday
7. my thoughtful neighbor who has not secured his wireless network, allowing me to post this
8. last and certainly not least, my wonderful, gainfully employed, sexy, hard-working, ever patient, calm, thoughtful, generous, handsome, healthy, athletic, intelligent, optimistic, uncomplaining husband
Friday, December 7, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monkey go "Arf, Arf"
Today on the way home from church 21 month old George was practicing his vocabulary. He was rambling through all the words he knew. I recognized a lot, then he said "Mon." A second later he said "MonKEY!" Then he said it again and went "Arf, Arf." The rest of the kids cracked up! The rest of the ride home they made LOUD monkey noises to set their baby brother straight.
Friday, November 30, 2007
A Date With 12 Angry Men
Victoria and I were fortunate enough last night to be given tickets to the play Twelve Angry Men at the Palace Theater.
On our way we got a quick dinner at Quizno's. Our tickets included a parking pass so we were able to park in the theater garage and take the enclosed walkway to the theater.
The Palace Theater is very nice, and our seats were in the loge section, the 2nd row of the balcony. The view was great and the play was excellent.
For a play with no action, the dialogue was very fast-paced and kept you on the edge of your seat for the entire 90 minute show. (There was no intermission). I highly recommend this play.
On our way we got a quick dinner at Quizno's. Our tickets included a parking pass so we were able to park in the theater garage and take the enclosed walkway to the theater.
The Palace Theater is very nice, and our seats were in the loge section, the 2nd row of the balcony. The view was great and the play was excellent.
For a play with no action, the dialogue was very fast-paced and kept you on the edge of your seat for the entire 90 minute show. (There was no intermission). I highly recommend this play.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Aunt Gene
Remarks – Aunt Gene – 11/20/2007
Aunt Gene never married or had children of her own, but she certainly had a large family. She loved her siblings and her nieces and nephews, staying involved with us and bragging on us every chance she got.
A lot of what I know about Aunt Gene’s earlier life, I heard from stories. And she was a great storyteller. She had an amazing memory well into her 90’s. She was able to remember details of events that happened decades earlier. She memorized the birthdays of all of her family, as well as what seemed like almost everyone else she knew.
A few years ago, the night after my dad passed away, I visited Aunt Gene for a few hours, and she shared several stories about her earlier years, growing up with my grandparents, my dad, Uncle Howard and Aunt Margie. Sadly, numerous stories died with her.
The next day I told her I was working on a eulogy for my dad and that I wanted to add a few laughs to honor dad’s sense of humor. She told me that she didn’t think a eulogy was supposed to be funny, so I’ll try to keep this one on a more serious tone.
Being younger, my first memories of Aunt Gene are of her living in New London and caring for her mother. Visiting Grandma and Aunt Gene on Sundays after church was a very common activity for us. I remember Aunt Gene giving pennies or nickels to Chris and I almost every time we saw her.
Later on, her generosity changed flavors. My kids remember her passing out Nestle chocolate bars whenever we visited.
Aunt Gene had a distinguished professional career. I learned from her how she would take the train from New London to Cleveland on Monday mornings. She worked at Sherwin-Williams, spending her nights with some of her cousins. Then she would take the train back home on Fridays to spend the weekend at home.
Most of her career was spent in Elyria, working as an executive secretary to the Vice President of Bendix. She made many friends at Bendix, as well as anywhere else she went.
Aunt Gene was proud of her work and of the connections she made, in work and throughout life. She loved telling everyone that her neighbor was related to Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Cliff Stoudt, and that her nephew Tim played piano onstage with award winning actress Cloris Leachman. And in her final years at the Carriage House in Norwalk, she enjoyed making friends and was proud to introduce her family to the judge down the hall.
Not that she revered people just because they were famous. Aunt Gene used her sharp mind to keep herself informed in the areas of current events and politics. President George W Bush doesn’t know it, but he just lost one of his biggest critics!
Once Aunt Gene told me that she never paid for anything “on time” in her life. This confused me at first, but then I figured out what she meant. She never paid for anything “over time” or had to pay interest. Even the new house she had built, she paid cash.
This isn’t to say she was tight with her money. She loved to share it with her family. She gave gifts unsparingly at birthdays and Christmas. And her graduation gifts were so generous, it became known among our family as the “Aunt Gene Scholarship.”
Aunt Gene was also generous with her time. She served in the YWCA and also volunteered at the Elyria Methodist Home for many years. And of course she spent many years of her life living with and caring for her mother, my grandmother.
In Exodus 20:12, God gave Moses the 5th commandment: “"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Many of us have heard, this is the only commandment with a promise. Aunt Gene’s time spent caring for Grandma is an example to us all of honoring our parents, and God certainly fulfilled his promise with a long life of 95 years
Aunt Gene loved to spend time with her family. I remember picnics in the back yard of her then new home in Elyria. And there was Aunt Gene’s ever-present camera, to snap a picture whenever anyone visited.
Aunt Gene also had a movie camera. Some may remember the blinding lights. After watching the home movies, Aunt Gene would then run them backwards for laughs. Does anyone else remember watching Abbot & Costello ice skate backwards? Or seeing the fence they knocked down flying back into place?
Several times we nieces and nephews got to spend the night with Aunt Gene. Once she took me grocery shopping, and this led to some confusion. I stopped in the aisle and started laughing “Ho ho! Ho ho!” It took a while for her to realize I wasn’t laughing, but was asking for my favorite chocolate snack cakes, the Ho ho’s.
Sharon also remembers spending the night. They went shopping at Higbee’s and Aunt Gene ordered Sharon a Shirley Temple, a pretty exotic drink for a country girl!
Another thing Aunt Gene enjoyed was attending band concerts, school plays, graduations, and other activities that we nieces and nephews were involved in.
In her later years, when she could not get out of her house much, Aunt Gene occupied herself by reading. She would read the start of the book, and then read ahead to see what happened. Later she would come back and read the sections she skipped. She once told me that by the time she put the book down she figured she had read every page at least 2-3 times.
She had a scrabble board that she would play by herself. Right hand against left hand was the way she described it. That’s called a no lose situation!
On my train ride home from work on Friday, after hearing of Aunt Gene’s passing, I read the following verse that made me think of Aunt Gene: Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Aunt Gene demonstrated her ability to live in peace and was a great example to us all, and after a long and prosperous life, she finally is seeing the Lord.
Aunt Gene never married or had children of her own, but she certainly had a large family. She loved her siblings and her nieces and nephews, staying involved with us and bragging on us every chance she got.
A lot of what I know about Aunt Gene’s earlier life, I heard from stories. And she was a great storyteller. She had an amazing memory well into her 90’s. She was able to remember details of events that happened decades earlier. She memorized the birthdays of all of her family, as well as what seemed like almost everyone else she knew.
A few years ago, the night after my dad passed away, I visited Aunt Gene for a few hours, and she shared several stories about her earlier years, growing up with my grandparents, my dad, Uncle Howard and Aunt Margie. Sadly, numerous stories died with her.
The next day I told her I was working on a eulogy for my dad and that I wanted to add a few laughs to honor dad’s sense of humor. She told me that she didn’t think a eulogy was supposed to be funny, so I’ll try to keep this one on a more serious tone.
Being younger, my first memories of Aunt Gene are of her living in New London and caring for her mother. Visiting Grandma and Aunt Gene on Sundays after church was a very common activity for us. I remember Aunt Gene giving pennies or nickels to Chris and I almost every time we saw her.
Later on, her generosity changed flavors. My kids remember her passing out Nestle chocolate bars whenever we visited.
Aunt Gene had a distinguished professional career. I learned from her how she would take the train from New London to Cleveland on Monday mornings. She worked at Sherwin-Williams, spending her nights with some of her cousins. Then she would take the train back home on Fridays to spend the weekend at home.
Most of her career was spent in Elyria, working as an executive secretary to the Vice President of Bendix. She made many friends at Bendix, as well as anywhere else she went.
Aunt Gene was proud of her work and of the connections she made, in work and throughout life. She loved telling everyone that her neighbor was related to Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Cliff Stoudt, and that her nephew Tim played piano onstage with award winning actress Cloris Leachman. And in her final years at the Carriage House in Norwalk, she enjoyed making friends and was proud to introduce her family to the judge down the hall.
Not that she revered people just because they were famous. Aunt Gene used her sharp mind to keep herself informed in the areas of current events and politics. President George W Bush doesn’t know it, but he just lost one of his biggest critics!
Once Aunt Gene told me that she never paid for anything “on time” in her life. This confused me at first, but then I figured out what she meant. She never paid for anything “over time” or had to pay interest. Even the new house she had built, she paid cash.
This isn’t to say she was tight with her money. She loved to share it with her family. She gave gifts unsparingly at birthdays and Christmas. And her graduation gifts were so generous, it became known among our family as the “Aunt Gene Scholarship.”
Aunt Gene was also generous with her time. She served in the YWCA and also volunteered at the Elyria Methodist Home for many years. And of course she spent many years of her life living with and caring for her mother, my grandmother.
In Exodus 20:12, God gave Moses the 5th commandment: “"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Many of us have heard, this is the only commandment with a promise. Aunt Gene’s time spent caring for Grandma is an example to us all of honoring our parents, and God certainly fulfilled his promise with a long life of 95 years
Aunt Gene loved to spend time with her family. I remember picnics in the back yard of her then new home in Elyria. And there was Aunt Gene’s ever-present camera, to snap a picture whenever anyone visited.
Aunt Gene also had a movie camera. Some may remember the blinding lights. After watching the home movies, Aunt Gene would then run them backwards for laughs. Does anyone else remember watching Abbot & Costello ice skate backwards? Or seeing the fence they knocked down flying back into place?
Several times we nieces and nephews got to spend the night with Aunt Gene. Once she took me grocery shopping, and this led to some confusion. I stopped in the aisle and started laughing “Ho ho! Ho ho!” It took a while for her to realize I wasn’t laughing, but was asking for my favorite chocolate snack cakes, the Ho ho’s.
Sharon also remembers spending the night. They went shopping at Higbee’s and Aunt Gene ordered Sharon a Shirley Temple, a pretty exotic drink for a country girl!
Another thing Aunt Gene enjoyed was attending band concerts, school plays, graduations, and other activities that we nieces and nephews were involved in.
In her later years, when she could not get out of her house much, Aunt Gene occupied herself by reading. She would read the start of the book, and then read ahead to see what happened. Later she would come back and read the sections she skipped. She once told me that by the time she put the book down she figured she had read every page at least 2-3 times.
She had a scrabble board that she would play by herself. Right hand against left hand was the way she described it. That’s called a no lose situation!
On my train ride home from work on Friday, after hearing of Aunt Gene’s passing, I read the following verse that made me think of Aunt Gene: Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Aunt Gene demonstrated her ability to live in peace and was a great example to us all, and after a long and prosperous life, she finally is seeing the Lord.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Ask Any Girl
Stepdaughter Emma was involved in her high school drama club this fall, working on the set production for Ask Any Girl, based on the 1959 movie (I think). Victoria attended on Thursday & Friday and the whole family was planning to attend on Saturday.
Unfortunately, Saturday's performance was canceled. The school was hosting an ROTC event in the afternoon and several people collapsed. This led to a fear of carbon monoxide or some other dangerous gas leak. So the school was shut down.
We'll find out later today if Saturday's performance will be rescheduled.
I did get to see several of the drama team when they had a post-play party at my pizzeria on Friday night.
Unfortunately, Saturday's performance was canceled. The school was hosting an ROTC event in the afternoon and several people collapsed. This led to a fear of carbon monoxide or some other dangerous gas leak. So the school was shut down.
We'll find out later today if Saturday's performance will be rescheduled.
I did get to see several of the drama team when they had a post-play party at my pizzeria on Friday night.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Happy Halloween!
Halloween for us started on Saturday when Brooke, Rachel and I went to the trick-or-treat party at the local community college. Basically we waited in line for about 45 minutes before parading through several campus buildings where students passed out candy in the halls. At the end the girls colored pictures for a coloring contest, then Brooke got in line for a balloon animal while Rachel showed off her pirate costume on stage for the costume contest.Later on Saturday we carved pumpkins. We take our pumpkin carving seriously at the "family of 9", using patterns and special pumpkin cutting tools. Below are this year's results:
Victoria did an awesome job on this skeleton fish!
Nathan carved a pirate face.
Brooke made a wise owl.
Jacob made his pumpkin into a lizard.
And Rachel, with her dad's help, made a scary wolf.
Luke didn't carve a pumpkin this year since he spent most of Saturday at a friend's birthday party.
On to Wednesday. Dad rearranged his parenting time schedule so that he could pick up the girls and bring them trick-or-treating. Luke stayed and went to church with his mom, and Nathan was ill with asthma. Jacob went with his cousins D & D.
Rachel again wore her pirate outfit, while Brooke was a dead princess and little George dressed in a warm Tigger suit. Even Dad got dressed up, walking along with the kids in his Anderson Varejao wig.
One of the houses we stopped along the way was local radio personality Bob Frantz, who moved into our neighborhood about a year ago.
We had a talk before we started and the kids followed my rules:
- Stay on the sidewalks, don't walk on people's grass.
- Say "Thank you" when someone gives you a treat.
- Say "Trick Or Treat", don't just hold out your bucket.
George's basket was so heavy he could hardly hold it, but he wasn't about to let go of it!
As you can see from the final picture, the kids made out pretty good.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Sticks And Stones ... And Car Trunk Lids?
Last weekend started off with a bang! While I was at my fantasy football draft, Emma broke her hand. She had went to a high school football game with her cousin. Apparently she bent over to pick up something, putting her hand on the edge of the open trunk for balance. Meanwhile someone slammed the trunk shut. Ouch!
Victoria took her to get an X-Ray and they didn't get home until almost 3 AM.
Saturday morning we (all 9 of us) were up at 7 AM and soon on our way to the Firelands 5K. Brooke ran the 1 mile fun run, while Luke and I (and several other uncles and cousins) ran the 5K. Following that, we went out to my mom's for lunch.
Next it was back in to town to watch the parade. Emma stayed at Chris's to rest. The rest of the kids picked up more candy than they could eat in a month! Victoria begged, pleaded, and cajoled, to get as many boxes of Dots as she could.
After the parade we went to the festival. For only $5, you get in to the festival and can ride all the rides. This is a great bargain! The kids rode a few rides, we played a few games of Bingo at the Ruritan pavilion (where my dad always used to work when I was younger), and the kids each got $5. Most of them used it to play a dart game and win a blow-up toy.
George used his to play the duck game. He didn't really care about the prizes, but he loved watching those ducks go around in a circle and sticking his arms in the water!
Saturday night was a feast at Chris & Todd's, featuring hot dogs, brats, pizza bites, and best of all, dirt dessert. Then we spent the night back at Mom's (less 2 kids that stayed at Chris & Todd's).
Sunday morning we got up and headed to the cottage to visit Victoria's parents and celebrate her sister Dawn's birthday. After the Pizza Hut fiasco, we got lunch at McDonald's. We spent the afternoon fishing and swimming in Lake Erie, before having dinner and cake and then driving back for another night at Mom's.
Monday, Labor Day, we got ready and went to yet another picnic, this one at Dick & Debbi's. I grilled the hot dogs, reminiscent of my days working for my sister Sharon at the Flower Hospital company picnic. Lunch was followed by a few games of cornhole.
Finally, we dropped my kids off at their mom's and made it back home, just in time for me to make it to my pizza delivery job.
It's a good thing we didn't have soccer this weekend!
Victoria took her to get an X-Ray and they didn't get home until almost 3 AM.
Saturday morning we (all 9 of us) were up at 7 AM and soon on our way to the Firelands 5K. Brooke ran the 1 mile fun run, while Luke and I (and several other uncles and cousins) ran the 5K. Following that, we went out to my mom's for lunch.
Next it was back in to town to watch the parade. Emma stayed at Chris's to rest. The rest of the kids picked up more candy than they could eat in a month! Victoria begged, pleaded, and cajoled, to get as many boxes of Dots as she could.
After the parade we went to the festival. For only $5, you get in to the festival and can ride all the rides. This is a great bargain! The kids rode a few rides, we played a few games of Bingo at the Ruritan pavilion (where my dad always used to work when I was younger), and the kids each got $5. Most of them used it to play a dart game and win a blow-up toy.
George used his to play the duck game. He didn't really care about the prizes, but he loved watching those ducks go around in a circle and sticking his arms in the water!
Saturday night was a feast at Chris & Todd's, featuring hot dogs, brats, pizza bites, and best of all, dirt dessert. Then we spent the night back at Mom's (less 2 kids that stayed at Chris & Todd's).
Sunday morning we got up and headed to the cottage to visit Victoria's parents and celebrate her sister Dawn's birthday. After the Pizza Hut fiasco, we got lunch at McDonald's. We spent the afternoon fishing and swimming in Lake Erie, before having dinner and cake and then driving back for another night at Mom's.
Monday, Labor Day, we got ready and went to yet another picnic, this one at Dick & Debbi's. I grilled the hot dogs, reminiscent of my days working for my sister Sharon at the Flower Hospital company picnic. Lunch was followed by a few games of cornhole.
Finally, we dropped my kids off at their mom's and made it back home, just in time for me to make it to my pizza delivery job.
It's a good thing we didn't have soccer this weekend!
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