Thursday, February 15, 2007

Random Ramblings #7

Thanks for stopping by today for a little visit. While we're waiting for Kevin to post Chapter 3, we'll just chat a bit about this and that.

First of all, thank you so much for your comments on DC's photography that I posted yesterday for Wordless Wednesday. He tells me he was sitting on a rock after eating lunch one day up on Storm Mountain. He spotted that tree perfectly situated in front of that cloud, whipped out his old fashioned 35 mm camera and got that amazing shot. As I told someone in a comment, he loves photography and seldom takes pictures of people. He can tell you every rock, every flower, where he was hiking when he found it and captured it for posterity. I have a future blog planned around some of his mountain pictures. I keep telling him he should try to market a calendar someday.

Please pray for him today. He's having a biopsy done - that plague of men who are getting to a more advanced age, which they don't like to really talk about. Please also pray for Kevin - he is plagued with chronic headaches. He had one yesterday, which is the reason he hasn't posted his next episode yet.

As everyone was posting pictures of their vintage valentines, and as some show us wonderful things from their grandparents, great-grandparents, and further back than that, I was thinking of why I don't have such things to share, or even to enjoy. Kevin once asked me what I collect, and I told him mostly dust. Which is probably another reason I don't collect things - because THEY collect dust - and I hate dusting!

But, back to the original thought - I was thinking of my lack of nostalgic "stuff" and pondering the reason. I don't know if my ancestors weren't nostalgic. I suspect that's part of it. One time I was lamenting the change in the little town where they all lived - it wasn't like coming back to Grandma and Grandpa's any more because it had turned into a "bedroom community" for people from the Twin Cities who wanted to escape city life, but wanted to still work in the big towns. He said, "That's progress. You gotta have progress." To me, it turned "Mayberry" into something totally foreign to me. He didn't mind. So I suspect he had the same feeling about keeping old "stuff." But the other factor is the number of times we moved. I collected lots of things when I was a kid - I had a great collection of fancy napkins - anybody remember the napkins that people used to have for fancy occasions? Oh, my, some of them were positively lacey. I had wedding napkins from all the occasions when aunts had to figure out a way to have my sister and me as part of their weddings. I wish I knew where that box of napkins went. I also collected miniature tea sets - tiny cups, saucers, and tea pots from every place we went on vacation. I have no idea what happened to that box either. Sad!! I suspect they were lost along with one of our many moves. I clearly remember the day Mom and Dad told all 5 of us that, now that we were grown and had places of our own, they would no longer move our "precious memories" boxes from parsonage to parsonage. I think many things were ruined in the crawl space of our first house.

Back to the present - remember the picture of all of those burgundy folders that I posted last week? Now they're all processed and ready for the next step - I have to figure grade point averages for each and every applicant. Some people went to a lot of colleges before they eventually graduated! I have to put all of those gpa's together into one. I always bring files home at this time of year and do it while American Idol or some such mindless thing is on in the background. When I started this job 14 years ago, I realized that when I put those file folders in the faculty's boxes to be evaluated for admission, it did not make them happy. I continually have to remind them that I am only the messenger! This is a program they created, not me. Unless they want me to just read the files and decide who I like the best (the ones who didn't bother me with thousands of phone calls and e-mails with questions they could have known the answer to if they had only read the very nice booklet I sent them, or the ones who didn't follow the directions in that very nice booklet, etc. etc.), they need to quit their bellyachin! I decided that "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" and began attaching a chocolate to each set of folders I gave them to read. They really like that, but then began to tell me which kind of candy they do and do not like! It doesn't matter how many letters you have following your name, you are still a little kid at heart at times.

I have been thinking of the pros and cons of my new schedule. Here are a couple of them:

Pro: The four hours I work in the morning go so fast.
Con: The four hours I work in the morning go so fast!

Pro: I only have Feisty with me three afternoons a week while Care Bear is in preschool.
Con: I only have Feisty with me three afternoons a week while Care Bear is in preschool. She really misses her buddy.

When I have a chance to just sit and watch and listen to those kids, it is such fun. Care Bear and Feisty have the greatest imaginations. Their conversations just make it so worthwhile. Feisty really lives up to her blog name. She has to have everything done a certain way, and mostly done by herself. But she has become such a little conversationalist, which is the best thing about being with her alone in the afternoons.

One of their favorite things to do is listen to music as we drive down the road. They have 3 CDs in my player in the minivan. They have certain requests and I have to know which number to punch in on each CD. Yesterday Care Bear really got into the spirit of Valentine's Day. She was passing out home made and store bought cards to everyone everywhere. She took some for her friends and teachers at church last night. On the way home they were all 3 singing with great gusto and one of the songs was "I'm gonna take God's promises and hide 'em in my heart." Now they've been singing and listening to this song since Bible school 3 years ago, but all of a sudden that part about hiding in her heart just hit Care Bear - she squealed with great joy, "Grandma, heart, heart, just like our valentine hearts - thank you, Jesus!" What a blessing to this old grandma's heart!

On another note entirely, I took them to the Dairy Queen for a treat after the library yesterday afternoon. I decided to really splurge with my money and my calories and got a totally decadent Blizzard - only the second in my life. Anakin looked straight at me and said, "Grandma, that doesn't fit on your diet, does it?" I almost choked on my brownie piece that was part of what made it so decadent. I don't recall ever discussing my diet with him! They don't miss anything.

Well, I must get to work doing that for which I am paid not nearly enough. We got another 2-3 inches of really fluffy, pretty snow and it's 5 degrees F this morning. DC washed my car of the inch deep mud when we got back from the mountain trip. I had a clean car for less than 24 hours. I have to remind myself what a wrote a couple of weeks ago - about how this moisture is going to create such a lovely green spring. But are we ever going to enjoy spring this year!

I'll talk to you later!

13 comments:

Susie said...

Lovely newsy post Dawn! I love catching up with you like this. Wish we could do it face to face over a cup of tea!!
I'll be praying for both you and for your husband...
((hugs))

Tammy said...

I'll be praying for you husband and son today...
And I really think your husband is a talented photographer!

Lots of news and thoughts today, Dawn...as Sue said, wish we could have really done it over tea- or coffee- but in a way we did, since I just finished my cup of caffienated brew just a moment ago...:)

Blessings!

someone else said...

Praying for DC and the biopsy. Having been through this at our house, I know the procedure will not be horrid. Just uncomfortable. I hope he doesn't have to wait as long as we did for the results. Because we had the Christmas and New Year season to get through and the labs were closed, we didn't get results for two weeks. It was a looooong wait. I know you'll keep the family posted.

I had some childhood keepsakes that got left behind and lost when we moved from Arkansas. I can still see the box sitting on the back porch. I discovered it missing as soon as we unpacked at the new place in Calif.

Did you know Beth collects mini-tea sets? She has some really cute ones. I hope you uncover a deeply-hidden box in your basement someday. Wouldn't that be fun???

Barb said...

Rob hada that biopsy done a couple of years ago. No fun. No fun at all and that doctor almost got punched in the face because he did it with no pain relieving medication at all. I hope it goes better for your hubby.

We're all on pins and needles out here, waiting to hear Aaron's results. Praying a lot, too, since this is by far his 1st choice for grad school.

Hope Kevin's headache lets up soon - we're anxiously waiting for his next installment.

Susan said...

I am a keeper of "keepsakes" and every time I think "I must clear out some of this stuff" I just can't do it for remembering who gave me what and when. My mother was not a saver of things and I think that's all the more reason I am.

Unknown said...

Random posts are fun to read.
Sign me up for a calendar when it gets printed :-)
I hate to dust too. The less to dust the better!
It's amazing how kids know things that we don't think they're paying attention to.
I hope Kevin feels better soon and DC's biopsy goes well.

Kristen said...

Well, actually I heard on the news recently that all of this snow could be causing our grass to mold underneath all of it. So we could have dead grass.

Did I make you smile?!

Linda said...

I love these kinds of posts. Just sitting down for a little chat.
I had to chuckle about the chocolates. There's just no making some people happy.
It is fun to listen to those little conversations, and you are so right - they do not miss a trick. And they are so painfully honest!
I'll pray for DC.
And for Kevin too. I'm prone to headaches and they are no fun at all.
Take care Dawn. I thoroughly ejoyed our little chat.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Well, that was a nice "visit". :-)

I have to constantly fight against the packrat genes I inherited from my Mama. I tend to hold onto some things when I shouldn't, and let things go that I should have kept. Go figure. Hindsight and all that. :-)

Praying for your hubby. I pray he gets a good report from the biopsy.

Love,

Diane

Carole Burant said...

I just love newsy posts like this:-) Oh dear, I do hope your hubby's biopsy doesn't reveal anything too sinister...of course my prayers are with him! And poor Kevin, chronic headaches are no fun!!

I was asking my mom tonight how come she doesn't really have many keepsakes of her childhood...she said that having moved so many times, a lot of stuff got thrown out. Sigh.

I love Blizzards but only have one maybe once a year...I love their Chocolate Xtreme one! Yummmmm!!

Hugs xox

Looney Mom™ said...

I hope all is well with hubby and poor Kev.

I collect too many things along with dust like you said. A TON of Tweety stuff.

Pear tree cottage! said...

Dawn, I am here to offer support to you today and hope upon hope everything goes well for your hubby and you.

I too would just love to be sitting at a table filled with delish! afternoon tea and have a real good chin wag about everything it is so nice to be able to do that with friends and you have many here.

thinking of you.
Lee-ann

Pamela said...

Good for you Dawn, after all it is good to remind people not to kill the messenger! lol Love that you add the little chocolate piece! So sweet, and then they have to go and add their two cents! haha! You can't win!

You had me just rolling on the floor at Anikin's comment causing you to almost choke on your brownie! Too cute! :)