Miracles

Jeremy, about 18 months

Jeremy fall 2008

Those of you who live in Phoenix know that our street lights are yellow, not white. Something about not attracting bugs and using less energy. Anyway, it's very dark here on the streets at night, frankly those lights do very little. So Jeremy was riding his bike home from work on the sidewalk when the bike chain came off or froze up. He flipped out over the front of his bike and flew into the street. (The sidwalks along the main road just outside our neighborhood curve back and forth, so he must have been sort of facing the road when he flipped.) A car honked it's horn and had to swerve to miss him. Jeremy said they didn't stop to see if he was alright. RUDE!! This was a main road where the speed limit is 45, which means people go 50+, had he been hit, it would have been extremely serious. Thankfully that was the further of 2 northbound lanes and nobody was coming in the closer lane...or my post today might be very, very different. I'm so thankful he is safe. It did shake him up and he's home today nursing some minor injuries. You know, he's 16 1/2 and quite independent, probably my most independent child in many ways. If all our kids were like him I could easily have 10 or more. (Ok, if I had enough $ for the groceries, the boy can eat!) But I really feel like taking care of him today, mothering him like I did when he was little.

I'm really thankful for all our kids, they each bring something different into our lives. Jeremy really makes me laugh, which I appreciate so much. If you know me, laughter is one of my favorite things. He is good at many things and rises as a leader wherever he goes. He's a real dare-devil. We went to Florida last summer and I found him jumping off the pier into the ocean with a group of kids he'd met on the beach...scary! He'd love to ride motorcycles, go sky-diving, and is up for adventures all the time. He feels pretty invincible, maybe this will give him a bit of healthy fear?

I'm really interested in studying human behavior, the nature vs. nurture question is an age-old one in psychology, especially when it comes to children. Are they born a blank slate or do they come to us already formed as who they are?? Of course I believe it's some of each~but I'm not bragging about Jeremy. He definetely came to us quite a bit the way he is, he's a lot of nature! I'm really grateful for Jeremy and all he brings into our lives. Last night, a real MIRACLE happened and we're all so happy he's alright. I love this boy.

Aaaah

So my Costco photo book is almost done. I'm waiting for 2 more pictures to come in the mail that I had to order, then I can insert them and voila...a great photo book will be ordered and on its way. I'm really excited to see the finished product. It's been a labor of love for sure, but it will be filled with pictures like these that just beg to be shared...


Josh and Jeremy, fall 1993

Josh and Jeremy, Christmas 1993

Jeremy eating corn, 1994

Josh, Jeremy and Adam, August 1995

Jeremy, Easter 1995

our boys on Mother's Day, 1997


Adam and Austin, spring 1999

Austin 1999

Adam and Austin, early 1999

our boys, San Diego, CA 2006

A really fun site...

Wow, that's all I can say. I came across this site after following a trail of links and I can't believe this woman! I don't know who she is but she's a jill-of-all-trades. I could get lost in her website all day long every day of the week and twice on Sunday! She has a great sense of humor and tons of great information. You guys have to visit the site for The Pioneer Woman, there is a link to her site on the lower left side of my blog under "Blogs and sites that are just fun". Seriously, don't go there unless you have a lot of time!

Weaknesses can become strengths

I heard about a great gardening seminar being held on our choice of several days in the near future, so Ken and I are going to go together. The guy running the seminar is a master gardener with what's called the Mittleider method. I guess you use less water, less soil (or no soil for hydroponic gardening), etc. There are different types they teach-container gardening, box gardening, hydroponic and more. Anyway, I'm actually excited about it because I want to grow our own vegetables and fruits, as many as possible. It's corn, potato, squash, cucumber, zucchini, beans, and melon season. I want to plant some basic herbs, too, but only the ones I use. Yes, I'm worried about what's happening in the world, but I also come from back east where produce was much fresher and tasted better than here-and it was less expensive, too. It costs us anywhere from $2-5 per dinner just for our vegetables here and they don't taste very good, so if we learn how to do this, we can eventually save money and eat better. I think we can grow lettuces, too...we eat lots of salad greens. We have a pretty big back yard for a suburban neighborhood in Phoenix; plenty of room to grow citrus, apples, grapes, and vegetables. The way I see it, why plant grass~we're not sheep, we don't eat grass! Let's use this back yard for food.

So the way I see it, the only reason I have a brown thumb is that I don't know what I'm doing, but I can learn. This is one weakness I want to become a strength.

~the strawberry was yummy this morning~

Fighting the inevitable

If this picture were at all legible you'd see I'm doing it again~fighting the nature that seems to follow me. As many of you know, I have a brown thumb. I have a hard time growing things, and in fact even managed to kill my Chia herb garden, which apparently 2 year olds have no trouble at all with. Ken worked so hard last year to make a garden "box" for me with some cinder blocks (material of choice here in AZ) and we planted tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, and strawberries. We didn't get one bite of food from all that work. (I think we burned the plants with too much fertilizer.) But I know other people grow food out here so I'm trying again. Today Adam helped me make a second box and we're going to go get some plants. I even want to get a meyer lemon tree, which I've heard grows really well here. It's silly to pay a lot for lemons when I'm in sunshine heaven. I'm willing to try this even though I/we killed both dwarf, seedless, specialty orange trees we were given by Ken's brother, Roland. He is so successful with those trees and was so sweet to get us some...he'd come to visit and shove past us and run to the back yard to see the trees. I felt so horrible the time he came and we had to share the bad news. I would love an orange tree, too, but really want a seedless, dwarf tree like the ones Roland has.

You may notice that our back yard doesn't exactly have a plush lawn leading up to the garden, either. Having grown up in PA I just figured that grass comes with a house. Now I know better if you build a new home, even there you have to plant grass. But here, we spoke with a landscaper who wanted $6000 to do a sprinkler system and grass. That's American dollars. Grass! And that's just the back yard, which is about 80' by 50'. We're not talking acreage here. We can do it but just haven't yet, and we've lived here almost 7 years. I kill Chia herb gardens, I doubt I'll be involved in that project.

Anyway, if you read this and have gardening tips for the state of Arizona, specifically Phoenix, please let me know. Websites, etc, are all helpful. Yes, I can google, but there are so many sites that are nonsense, I need the good ones! Something that gives me hope is this beautiful little strawberry some lucky person will have the chance to taste in a day or two when it's ready. These 2 strawberry plants survived the harsh summer and all winter here, too, and started producing fruit so I have hope!




Wish me luck...

Invitation

I love photoshop, as you may know, and have been learning all kinds of tricks about using it by trial and error. This is an e-invitation I made to send out to people in the area for Josh's (and 2 other guy's) court of honor. I was so proud of myself and happy to get it out, finally...sent it out to about 20 different email addresses....and got several emails back saying they can't see the attachment. Can I cry now or should I cry later? I resent it using a different method and hopefully it can be viewed. Ken thinks if people have text-only email that's why they couldn't see the picture? Anyway, all I can say is I'm really tired of sitting at the computer, between the Costco book and things for the court of honor and work, it's all I've done all week is sit here. How do people DO this for a living??

Costco book continued

Ok, so I was wrong...the book you can have printed at Costco is not a flat price for 20-100 pages. The prices start for 20 pages ($30), up to 12 photos per page. After that it's $.99 per page. That means that a 100 page book would cost $80 more than a 20 page book. And I may only use up about 80 pages. (Still, 99 cents for a full page of a printed book? Good deal.) But still, this is an important project for me and I do have a coupon for a free extra book, meaning I can buy one and get one just like it for free. I also have a code for 20% off (can I use both offers? Probably not, but the free book will save me more $$.) So anyway, just thought I'd clarify on that. I'm still so excited and almost done!! And it hasn't been over 100 hours of work, it's probably been twice that, at least. But hey, 20 years of photos...it's gonna take time! Also, MyPublisher, the program Costco has you download to make the book, has consultants who offer help so your book is perfect. It's a seriously great service, I can't imagine what it would have cost to have a book like this professionally done!!

Eagles

At age 11, boys can become official Boy Scouts and then everything they do is leading them to become an Eagle. I don't know how many boys start the Boy Scout program, but only 2 out of every 100 boys who starts makes the BSA's rank of Eagle. That's a small number! It takes the scout, parents, leaders, and so many more people maintaining a high level of dedication for years. Josh has had lots of fun doing things like camping, canoeing, flying (yes, in airplanes!), rock climbing, rappelling, hiking, snow camping, making a fire without matches, going to Bondurant--a race-car driving school here in Phoenix, sprint triathlons, geocaching, and so much more. It's taken 7 years of weekly activities, monthly campouts, week-long summer campouts, and extra merit badge clinics. Before his 18th birthday a year ago, Josh completed all the requirements for his Eagle. In March he went before a board of review and in May he got his official Eagle card in the mail and was notified that the national council had approved him. On Wednesday, March 11, 2009, Josh will have his Eagle Court of Honor. Yes, sometimes we're slow...anyway, it's going to be a special night for him and two of his friends who will be receiving their Eagle awards, too. I'll post pictures next week!

Concerts and bachelors

Last night we got to go to Adam's choir concert. It's obvious the choir director loves her job and loves the kids, she does a good job with them. The piano player is the same lady who played last concert and she rocked yet again...I always appreciate a great player. She picked kids for solos who did a really good job, which the audience always appreciates. Sometimes it's like the American Idol tryouts, you just don't know what you're going to get. I think all the kids who sang solos have guts, I wouldn't do it. Good job, kids!



Ok, so about the Bachelor...I'm not sure what to think. The show is just that...a show. It's so real for everyone involved and I'm sure there are very real feelings that go with it all, but because it's a tv show there are rules that are agreed to ahead of time and things are very much expected of the people who go through it. It's not about love, it's about ratings. These people and their feelings DO NOT MATTER, they're pawns in a ratings game that is ruthless. I'm sure being on the show is confusing and my gosh, anyone can be on their best behavior for just a few hours a day over six short weeks, do these people really know each other? No. They get to travel around the world, fly in helicopters, are treated like VIPs everywhere they go, swim with sharks, drive race cars, stay in a beautiful mansion, have picnics at wineries (I don't drink but would still LOVE to visit a winery), are special guests on tv shows or at radio stations, etc. Shoot, I could hate the guy and want to stay as long as humanly possible for the experience of it all. I want to see dates where the bachelor/bachelorette and their date have to deal with crying babies at 2 am, be thrown up on, have to pay bills that total more than they bring in, change poopy diapers, answer telemarketing calls at least twice an hour each waking hour of each day, volunteer in their communities or a local school, still work their full-time jobs, deal with in-laws and neighbors, and all that good stuff and see if they can possibly fall in love in the midst of all that?? THAT would be reality tv. Oh, and let's see them give an engagement ring that's maybe 1/2 a carat, not 4! I'm sure anyone who watches has noticed that each season the very words used remain the same, only the faces change...it gets awfully monotonous. Isn't every rose ceremony the most dramatic rose ceremony ever??

If you're on the show you're either choosing (hellooo, kid in a candy store) or being chosen (a little unhealthy competition, anyone?). Then they have to get rid of a certain number of people whether they're ready or not. I mean, who dates once or twice and really knows a person well enough to say yes or no at that point? (Besides me when I dated Ken, that is...) And the person choosing NEVER EVER knows until the very last second what they're going to do. The one sent home is always shocked and hurt beyond belief, it's a cruel set-up...and let's do it all on national (international?) television! Yet does it really matter how you meet someone? Isn't this just an opportunity, strange as it is? After all, what really matters is what happens when the cameras and lights go off and real life begins, right?

Do I think Jason's a jerk? I don't know. Do I think he and Molly have a chance? I don't know. Would I ever do the show? Doubt it. Will I continue to watch? Yup.