TigerGirlC's Blurbs

Penny War

2012-01-26T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today I learned not to underestimate my co-workers. I am the team captain for our Relay for Life team that raises money for American Cancer Society. We have been touched on many occasions by members of our work family having cancer. In our effort to help raise money for research, we hold monthly fundraisers throughout the year. Our latest and by far the most successful fundraiser to date, was a penny war. The object of the game was to collect as many pennies as you could and then sabotage your opponents by adding nickels and dimes to their jars. Each penny counted as a point, each nickel or dime was a negative 5 or negative 10 against the total for that particular jar. Quarters or dollars could be added to the jars as well, but wouldn't count against you in any way, just add to the total raised all together. In one day alone we raised more than half of what we collected over all. I am still in awe at what we raised. I am proud to work with so many generous souls.

2011-06-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

On our vacation, this is one of the beautiful spots we stopped at. I love all of our adventures.

2011-06-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

My favorite kiddos. Growing up so fast and amazing me every day.

Life is good again

2011-05-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

I'd all but forgotten I even had a blog until one of my cousins and a neighbor friend started doing the one blog a day thing. Which of course my neighbor hasn't kept up with so I haven't had anything to read in a while. :) One can hardly blame her though since she's a mom of 3 kiddos and she manages the daily operations of their family owned business.

To say my life in the almost 3 years since I last had anything to say here has not been crazy would be an understatement. I quit working just before my oldest kiddo started Kindergarten. He has since gone on to 1st Grade, 2nd Grade and is about to be done with 3rd grade. My youngest has been to Kindergarten and is about to be done with 1st Grade. We've survived hubby being laid off, being on unemployment, a crappy replacement job for hubby, a nasty battle to get back on unemployment when that job went south real quick, my going back to work part time, hubby going back to work at the original job after being laid off for almost a year, me volunteering once a week at the kids' school and on field trips, baseball practices, baseball games, soccer practices, soccer games, basketball practices and basketball games. We didn't take "vacations", but made the best out of short camping trips to Sisters and to go hiking around Silver Falls State Park as well as bike rides around Champoeg State Park. Hubby and I laid awake many nights worrying about how we'd get all the bills paid each week and put food on the table too. Every time it all seemed to work out. We learned a lot about ourselves as individuals as well as what we can accomplish as a family. I think it is safe to say now though, after a year of both hubby and I working, that our life is back on track. Life is normal. Life is good.

pics from our vacation

2008-10-31T00:23:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have had a little time to get some pics together for those who haven't seen the ones on facebook.

Racoon!!

2008-10-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

Imagine my surprise early this morning when I looked out my front window and saw a racoon running across the street and into my front yard. I had been waiting for my hubby to hopefully come home from work, but had given up on that and was headed to bed. Doing my usual rounds of checking and double checking doors and windows, I looked out the window and caught a glimpse of what I thought was my cat running back to the house to be let in for the night. The closer the figure got though, the more I realized that the run was all wrong, the tail was much fluffier, the nose was much pointier and the coloring was ALL wrong. A silly racoon, which I'm assuming had been eating cat food across the street at the neighbors house, came bounding toward our house after being scared by the neighbors coming home. He didn't stay long, but long enough for me to get a good look at it as it crossed our yard and back toward the dead end where there are still plenty of trees to hide in. After he disappeared out of sight, I went into my bedroom and checked for my cat and found her tucked safely into my computer chair. No need to worry about her tangling with a racoon this time!!

Camping July 2008

2008-07-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

Below are some pictures from our camping trip near Sisters, Oregon this last week. Enjoy!!

Relay in 1 more day!

2008-06-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's the day!! Put on your walkin' shoes, gather your team and head on down to the high school for a couple of days of fun. Pitch a tent, stay the night. Play games. Buy tickets for Ushio's raffle!!! We're auctioning off a purple Apple iPod Shuffle for part of our fundraiser. So, if you are in need of an iPod, stop on by our campsite and buy a ticket or two. Tickets are $2.00 each.

See ya on the track!

We made it

2008-06-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

We have made it through our first year of school!! Mr. Matt completed Kindergarten today and has been promoted to the 1st Grade. He's very excited about that although he won't be in the same class as 2 of his bestest buddies. He will have one of his bestest buds in his class though, so he won't be alone completely. His "girlfriend" will be in his class next year too, so stay tuned for next years tales of love...if there are any by then. :)

Relay for Life in 10 more days!!

2008-06-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

I'm getting super excited now. Relay for Life is in 10 days!! I want to encourage anyone and everyone to come see what it's all about. The opening ceremonies start at 6:00pm on June 20. Right after that, the survivors do a lap. There is a luminaria ceremony in which the names are read and the bags are lit and stay lit all night. That starts at 9:00pm. Everyone is invited to take part in the silent auction also. There are tons of stuff to bid on and all proceeds of course go to American Cancer Society. If you haven't donated and would like to, you can go to:

http://events.cancer.org/rflnewbergor

From there you can view a list of teams (click on "view teams" on the right hand side of the screen) and scroll down til you see the team you want to donate to (mine is called Ushio Angels). Once you click on a team name you can either donate to the team itself or a specific member of the team (my name is Christie, I'm the only Christie on the team) :)

I hope to see you there. I'll be with my team near the shot put ring. Look me up, I'll be there all night!!

Nature

2008-05-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

I had fun today. Sitting in Mom's backyard watching my children play as well as taking pictures of her many different varieties of flowers. I even had the priviledge of photographing one of her hummingbird friends that came to visit. It let me get within a couple of feet of it to take it's picture and didn't move at all.....until my children came along and disturbed it.

Drama

2008-05-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

As if I didn't have enough drama this week between the mill not having a contract yet and with my daughter taking the kid scissors to her hair the other day...

(before haircut.....really mad at herself)

(day after haircut....happy with the results)

I got a phone call from my husband about an hour ago saying a deer ran out in the road and he had to jam on the breaks. Luckily both he and the guy he is going hunting with are OK and aren't hurt. I'm glad he didn't have our trailer on behind him when this happened or this whole situation could've been a whole lot worse than it is. Our poor truck though, is now in need of a good repair shop. The drivers side door is smooshed in enough he can't get it open so has to go in through the passenger side. I haven't seen the damage yet. As far as I know he still won't be home til Thursday. It's time for the drama to end and get back to life as usual don't you think?

Relay

2008-05-15T12:09:00.001-07:00

There are 37 days left until Relay. I'm excited. I've been keeping an eye on the findraising online and so far my team has raised more money than what shows on the Relay site. We haven't turned it in yet, but...next meeting. I've gotten most everyone on the team registered online now. There are still a few stragglers that I'll get registered soon (hopefully today or tomorrow). It's still far more progress (and less hassle) than I had getting the team signed up a few months ago. :) Check it out for yourself! There's quite a few more teams that have come together too.

http://events.cancer.org/rflnewbergor

Our Project

2008-05-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Recently we decided it was time to finally do something with our yucky grey carpet in our livingroom. We couldn't decide what we wanted to do at first...new carpet or another type of flooring. We eventually decided on laminate flooring. We decided to go all the way down the hall with it as well. Before we tore up carpet we thought we'd paint the walls. They've needed a fresh coat of paint for a while now. We figured while we had the room torn apart we may as well get both projects done at once. So we did. It was a long process because we had a couple of kids who wanted to help and then they didn't want to help and then they did....oh my gosh. So they helped a little and then went on their merry ways. A lot of the time they spent outside in the nice weather playing with the neighbor boys from down the street. Thank you J & T!!! On another day Mom rescued us from them as well. Thank you Mom! Below is a slideshow of what we've done. The kitchen still has yet to be painted, but that too should be done soon.

Springtime!!

2008-04-14T13:44:00.001-07:00

I love springtime when all the flowers come out of hiding and show their pretty heads!

Wisdom Teeth

2008-03-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why the teeth way back in your jaw are called wisdom teeth? I have. Supposedly they're supposed to be the teeth that come through the gum around age 18 when you become a "wise" young adult (accourding to my dentist today anyway). At 18, I don't remember being very wise. So, why do they call them wisdom teeth??

I had my teeth out this morning and my face has still yet to come completely alive from the novicane. I'm guessing it's because the side that's still numb was the last side he worked on. That's also the side that is real tender to the touch. The rest of my jaw feels just find and I've only had to take one pain pill for it and that was early this afternoon. My daughter has been real helpful in making sure I have enough to drink and asking me if my teeth feel better yet. My son has been helpful in getting me the ice pack from the freezer and putting it back when I need him to. My grandparents were helpful by entertaining my daughter while I was at my appointment. My mom has been super helpful in that she drove me to the appointment this morning, drove me home, picked up my son from school, filled my prescriptions for me, made sure I had some yougart to eat for a couple days and entertained both my children so I could continue to take it easy this afternoon. She even stayed long enough to cook dinner for my family as well as herself. I LOVE MY FAMILY! Thanks for being there for me!! And thank you to the mom of my son's friend who was willing to bring her son to school early so my son would have someone to be with until school started!! You're awesome too!!

Frustration

2008-03-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of sitting around waiting for people to do things they say they want to do themselves but don't do them when they say they're going to! It's been months for goodness sakes!! I was told today that someone feels I'm trying to take over things and to be patient and relax. I've been patient. I'm tired of being patient. But I will continue to be patient because that is who I am. It's just frustrating!!! So, I will heed the advice of Mr. Roosevelt (my quote to the right) and tie a knot in my rope and hang on for dear life.

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

This is the first time in my recolection that I've ever seen a lunar eclipse. Living in Oregon it's either too cold or too cloudy to see them when they happen. My kids were impressed for a time before they thought it was more fun to go inside and play Leapster games. My camera and I braved the cold though and this is what we came back with. Enjoy.

Beginning

Middle

End

Relay for Life

2008-02-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

I now have a date for Newberg's Relay for Life. It's June 20-21, 2008. If anyone would be interested in joining the team, please let me know so I can get you a registration form when the time comes. I am really looking forward to participating this year. I plan on pitching a tent on the High School football field and staying the whole night there (hint hint if anyone wishes to come visit me there). Our fundraising is not doing as well as I'd hoped. We're nowhere near the goal we set for this year. I'm bummed about that. We still have a couple of major things we're going to try to get scheduled to get the community involved also, but we're still a couple months away from that due to Oregon weather. We're still also doing our monthly putlucks so we're still bringing in money for our donation, but like I said, it's nowhere near what I'd hoped for.

http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeGreatWestDivision?fr_id=5985&pg=entry

The universe is out to get me

2007-12-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what I did to the universe to deserve this, but here's how my day has gone:

1. My husband wakes me up to say the latch on his truck door isn't working and he will have to take my rig to work so I can call a friend to see if he can come help me fix the problem.
2. I call my Mom and ask to borrow her car if I can't get the latch fixed. I need to go get groceries.
3. I call our friend to see what I can do and he's not in town and can't help me until tomorrow anyway. I go with plan b and decide to definitely try to fix it myself. Later though.
4. A friend calls to see if my son can come to play at their house for a while. Sure, no problem. They live just on the otherside of the neighborhood, so we walk to their house.
5. I manage to get the door latch fixed and my daughter and I head to the store for groceries.
6. Truck looses power on the way to the store and won't go any further. I have enough momentum to get a little ways down the street before I can't go any further. I try to start the truck again, but it just won't do it.
7. I text my husband at work to tell him I hate his truck because I'm now stranded.
8. I call Grandpa K. to see if he's home and can maybe come see what's wrong with the truck. Both Grandma & Grandpa show up. Nothing obvious that he can see. Grandma keeps my daughter busy in their truck while I stay out in the cold with Grandpa.
9. Many phone calls from my husband later, Grandpa tows me and my daughter home to our house. Not a fun thing to drive without power steering or power brakes. The truck is now safely in front of the house until it can be fixed.
10. My daughter and I walk down the street to get Mom's car. I get my daughter loaded in the car to take it to my husband at the mill (I want my trusty Tahoe back!!!). ABS brake light comes on. (I'm thinking what else can I break today??????!!!!!)
11. We get the car to the mill and then head to Safeway to get groceries. As soon as my daughter and I get in the store, the power goes out in the building!!! It didn't stay off for too long before the lights came back on and we finished shopping in time to go pick up my son from his friend's house.
12. I've talked to Mom and asked if we can keep her "old" car until our truck can be repaired. She said yes. THANK YOU MOMMY!!!!

I've been told before that things come at you in 3's. I've had my 3 for the year. I'm hoping this is the last and there's not going to be another round coming at me anytime soon!!!! I told my mom when I talked to her that I was going to lock myself in my room and just cry for the rest of the day so nothing else bad would happen to me today! So far nothing has so I'm thinking I'm out of the woods for now. :) I sure hope so anyway. On the bright side we did get some money in the mail today. A check for a whopping $1.12!!!

Saddened

2007-12-07T12:01:00.001-08:00

I recieved some news this morning that has left me with both a sad heart and a knot in my stomach. Every parents nightmare was realized yesterday for some dear friends that I worked with until July. They got a call that their oldest child had taken his own life. The news leaves me wondering what could've been so bad in this young persons life that he felt he had to take his own life. These are good, caring and devoted parents who gave their children what they could during their childhood and still to this day do what they can to help them. Most of them being grown enough to be out of the parent's house and living on their own. My heart aches for this family who now have to deal with sadness so close to the holidays when they should be celebrating the season. My heart goes out to them as they try to get on with their lives. They will forever be in my thoughts and in my heart.

I need your help

2007-11-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

As some of you may or may not know, although I'm no longer working there, I am co-captain of USHIO's Relay for Life team this year (The American Cancer Society). We've been doing fundraisers since September that consist of potlucks, BINGO, raffles and just pure donations. We need to come up with something new to "spice things up a bit". While the results have been good, I'm looking for something new that will catch people's attention more and help us reach our goal donation. If you have any ideas for fundraisers, please let me know. We are planning to hold a garage sale and possibly a car wash in the spring also.

Field Trip

2007-10-30T19:09:00.001-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of being one of six chaperones on the Kindergarten field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We got on the bus and traveled half an hour to Aurora to Fir Point Farms. After getting off the bus we met with our group leader, Kim and she went over her rules. Rule #1 - stay together so you don't get lost and we get to see everything the farm has to offer. Rule #2 - Don't chase the chickens if you should see some roaming around! Rule #3 - HAVE FUN!! The last was the easiest to follow although we didn't see any chickens running around loose, so we didn't have to worry about rule #2. :) Our first stop was at the "corn maze" that was actually just bails of straw set out in the pattern. The boys and one of the girls in my group took off running through the maze and left the other girl and I in the dust. Then I had to squeeze through a kid sized door to get out!! Yeah, that was fun! After the maze we headed over to feed their goats. The kids lined up along the pen and recieved a handful of food each to feed. Even my son fed them without getting scared and throwing the food at the poor goats. After we fed goats we headed for the tractor and wagon for a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Once there they each picked out their own little pumpkin and it was was put on the back of a John Deere gator and taken back to our bus to wait for us. Once everyone had their pumpkins they gathered for a group picture. I had to tell my son to stop bouncing around and one of the other mothers laughed and said that was impossible for him to do because of all his energy. She's a mom that volunteers in class a lot so she knows what he's like!! I told her I knew that, but it was just something that I have to say from time to time. :) Next we visited the "nut house" where we all climbed into a house filled with empty filbert shells. The kids had a blast jumping around in shells practically up to their knees (me to my ankles). Amazingly enough, no shoes were lost in the shells. Next to the nut house were the rabbits and the pigs. The pigs were playing around and started play fighting and the kids errupted into giggles of laughter and chanted "fight! fight! fight!" This of course sent the adults into uproarious laughter as well. Our next stop on our tour of the farm was the house with a slide. Each kid got to go down the slide once before we headed to a little cabin that had pumpkins painted with each of the presidents of the United States. Not such an interesting room for the kids, so we headed off to our last stop.....the chicken coop. Finally at the end of the tour I was able to get my kids wrangled together in one single spot long enough to take a picture of them. For the most part all five of them were good. One of the little girls had a hard time staying with me because she was always wanting to see what was next and be the first to get there. I do think it's safe to say though that all of the kids that got to go today had an absolutely fun time. And I'm just about betting that they're all falling into bed about now exhausted from all that fun!!

Jordan Valley

2007-10-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

We have been back from Jordan Valley for a week now and have finally gotten the laundry caught up and somewhat back to a normal routine. Matt goes back to school tomorrow after having 2 weeks off. He should have some stories to tell....the cowboy that showed up in camp, Great Grandma's deer, splashing in puddles on the side of the roads with the truck, watching the Gammett boys rounding up cattle with their 4 wheelers, the snow that fell on us on one of our drives, "driving" Will Gammett's 4 wheeler (it was parked in the driveway), the frog that I found on some steps near the Owyhee River. I took tons of pictures, as usual. Five hundred to be exact. (Good thing I got a bigger memory card before we left!!) We had a fun time as usual. Did a lot of sight seeing when Grandma wasn't out hunting. After she did get her deer that's all we did was explore the countryside. Both in Idaho and Oregon. The weather was a bit chilled and windy most days, but it also rained, hailed and snowed on us some. The last day we were there was the best one and it was perfect since we'd already decided to stay in camp and be lazy people. I sat under the awning with my legs in the sun and read most of the day, picked up the few things we had out and got the trailer ready to head back home. That evening we went down to Gammett's ranch and chatted with them a while before heading back to camp and packing it in for the night.

Roses

2007-09-25T14:42:00.001-07:00

I love roses. I've been lucky enough to keep mine healthy and growing each year for the last 6 years. Just thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures of them.

Gemini

Gold Medal

Mr. Lincoln

Gemini

Kindergarten - Day 2

2007-09-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

This morning I was all set to park the car and walk my little man to the door at school. As I turned to find a parking spot he piped up and said "Mom, don't park today, I can do it by myelf. I don't need you to walk me to the door." So, I parked along the sidewalk where I could see the front doors and watched my little man run like crazy, blowing past a number of kids, only to stop at the door and wait for a girl who was coming up behind him. She went into a different door though, so he continued on his quest to go to his classroom all by himself. Once he was inside and we couldn't see him anymore, Lizzie and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. We figured he just wanted to ensure that I wasn't going to cry again today. When Lizzie and I picked him up after school he was all set to go and excited about tomorrow. I just asked him if he wanted me to drop him off at the sidewalk again tomorrow and with the sweetest smile ever...."Yeah."

Kindergarten

2007-09-05T16:32:00.001-07:00

This little man started Kindergarten this morning. He was super excited to go. Has been for some time now. He wanted to leave the house as soon as he woke up. Wanted to skip breakfast to get there. Nevermind that we were up at 7:00am and school doesn't start until 8:30!! :)

I've been tagged

2007-09-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Kathy so here are 8 random things about me but first...

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/stories about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I took piano lessons from 6th grade until after graduating from high school. I was the first graduating student that she had taught in all her years. She herself, quit teaching shortly afterward to go to school to become a doctor. A major accomplishment for someone who is blind.

2. When I was 7ish, I decided I was going to run away with the neighbor girls. We never made it out of the driveway because we ended up fighting over which way we wanted to go.

3. I don't like going up ladders. Once I'm up them I get scared that the ladder will move and make me crash to the ground. Even a little 4 foot ladder that has 4 legs firmly on the ground (washing my SUV is a real chore because of this). Bridges and other heights are fine, but NOT ladders.

4. I hate merging onto freeways because I'm scared a big truck will run me off the road. I'm afraid of getting lost when I drive places I've never been before. This is why it's taken me until a couple years ago to even get brave enough to go to a family reunion without my husband driving me there.

5. I love to take pictures. My favorite subjects are my kids (of course), moving water (like rivers and waterfalls and oceans), sunsets and flowers. I'm pretty sure my children are going to look back on their childhood and realize I spent a lot of time with a camera in my face. There aren't too many pictures of me in my picture albums unless it was taken by someone else.

6. I too, like Kathy, love thunderstorms. If the kids are awake, we go sit on our front steps and watch the lightening strikes and listen for the thunder. The last storm we experienced they were in bed already so I went outside by myself and tried to capture pictures of lightening. It didn't work though, I was too slow on the trigger for it.

7. I love to go camping, but I'm kinda scared of coyotes. I know they won't hurt me, but their beady little eyes are kinda freaky. We went camping one time in Eastern Oregon and were going for a walk when the whole area errupted into coyote howls........I practically ran back to our tent and drug my husband with me. That was also the trip there was a bear outside our tent....another freaky experience since the only weapon I had with me was the cot I was sleeping on. The rifle was safely in the truck where my husband had left it.

8. I had a pet cow at my grandparents once. I named him "Sunday". He was so laid back I probably could've sat on his back and he wouldn't have cared. I could walk into the pasture and he'd come right to me for petting. He eventually became Sunday dinner, but that's life when you're a cow on a beef farm.

Tagged by me: My cousin Robyn and my mom (she needs to start a blog and get some stories and thoughts put down too).

Rockaway Beach

2007-09-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had the best time at Rockaway Beach. On the way there, we stopped at a forestry center so the kids could climb the fire tower they have as an exhibit. The weather was perfect for playing on the beach and we even played in the water!! The kids thought that was the greatest thing on earth that I let them play in the ocean. That lost it's favor when my daughter took a nose dive into the wave and sand and the rest of the day it wasn't so fun for her. My son thought it was awesome to have fallen in the water and not get into trouble. Lucky for me I'd taken a change of clothes "just in case". I had a feeling they'd be needing them. For lunch we roasted hotdogs on the beach and later made Smores too. For dinner we ate at a little place called Cow Belle Cafe where my husband, mom and cousin had fish and chips that were darn near as big as the plate itself, my children had their usual chicken strips and I had a very tasty burger that had fat slices of bacon on it!! YUMMY!! After dinner we walked down the street and found an ice cream shop. After that a much needed walk we took before getting back into the car and heading home. As we headed out of Garibaldi I took pictures of the pretty sunset and even farther down the road we found a rather large herd of elk grazing in a farmers field. It was a perfect end to the perfect day.

Babies, babies and more babies!

2007-08-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

I love babies! When my cousins were born, I was there to hold them and help their mom's when they needed a little break. When my two were born I of course loved our mommy and baby time together. They are getting older so aren't so keen on the whole cuddle factor anymore. I still get an occasional one now and then, but it's not like when they were babies themselves.

Yesterday I had a great opportunity to spend time with a friend of mine and her two children at a park. Her oldest, Mr. "T" is 3, the same as my daughter. He went off to play with my two while us mom's sat and talked and played with Miss "H". Miss "H" is 14 months old. She's a happy baby most of the time, but yesterday she was getting rather grumpy at us two adults and we couldn't figure out why. We were swinging and doing what she wanted to do, so it was just kind of mind boggling as to why she was all of a sudden so grumpy. So I scooped her up, gave her many hugs and many kisses and tried cheering her up by swinging her around like an airplane. When that didn't work we took her over to the slide and her mom sat at the top and I caught her at the bottom. That worked finally and she started smiling again. When she did smile I noticed that she's got a couple molars coming in. Low and behold, mystery of the cranky baby solved!! More hugs and kisses later and not so many cuddles later (it's hard to cuddle with a toddler who doesn't want to be held), I sent her and her brother on their way back to home to see Daddy.

Today I got to hold the two newest members of my husband's family, my extended family. Mr. "A" is 3 1/2 months old now and just as cute as a button! Very happy little man and didn't mind at all that some strange person whom he'd never met before was asking to hold him. We cuddled, he drank a bottle and we even danced together for quite a while before his parents decided to make the long journey back to their home up north. Next I got to hold Miss "S". Miss "S" is only 9 days old and let me tell you....it almost makes me want to have another one. She's very content to be held and she too didn't mind that someone who wasn't Mama was holding her. Her mom kept asking if I wanted to give her back, but of course I said I was find so she let me continue holding her until it was time for them too to make their journey back to the North. I did with her like I did many times with my cousins and also my own children when they were that little....I put her to sleep in my arms. There's just something about having a baby in your arms that says you have to pat their little bottoms and sway back and forth with them. As my husband's cousin called it, I put her in a "Christie Coma". In fact while I was holding her, I took a picture with my cell phone camera and sent it to my husband (jokingly of course) and asked if he wanted another baby. Come to think of it too, he hasn't said anything about it since he checked his messages..... :) I miss the baby stage, but not enough to make me actually consider having another one. I'll stay content to cuddle with my friends children and my cousins children until there are no more children to cuddle with.

Wow, I'm already exhausted!

2007-08-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days we've been busy people!! Yesterday we went with my cousin and her son to a water park in Wilsonville and played for a couple hours before coming home to play some more. No naps for the kids. Today I had a dentist appointment in the AM followed by a frantic call from my former boss asking if I could do her a favor for some prospective clients of hers. Soon after that favor was completed we went with my brother-in-law and his family to the zoo and spent about four hours there before coming back to town and having dinner with them. Again no naps for the kids. And this week is not over yet....tomorrow we're off to Costco to get more supplies for home and for M's upcoming hunting trips. Friday I've got a Cancer Society Fundraiser Potluck at my former place of employment and then after that we're off to Tualatin to see some more friends and go to the park again. Friday evening we're going up to my grandparent's house to can more peaches. Saturday we're off to my brother-in-law's house for a goodbye potluck with his friends and the rest of the family that is Oregon based. (He's heading back over to Iraq in a few days. The next time we'll see him will be somewhere around Dec. or Jan.) I'm glad I'm staying busy and not sitting around twiddling my thumbs wondering what I'll do all day, but Sunday....I'm hoping for a relaxing day. :)

WOOHOO!!!!!

2007-07-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day of work!!! Not indefinitely, but for a while. I am happy that I no longer have to get up early during the week to go to work. I am sad because the job I left was very much like a second family to me. All the people there were very nice to me, treated me well and made it abundantly clear that they didn't want me to leave. I'm also relieved that today is finally over with (workwise anyway). I did most of my crying yesterday so today I was better able to control it. (Singing the "Elmo Song" really helps cheer one up sometimes!! You should try it.) I still had my moments that I couldn't help but let the tears flow though. It's just my nature and of course everyone expected it. I was bombarded just before lunch by my department (QC) and the packing department to view the beautiful flower bouquets that they brought as well as read, through tears, the many well wishes for my future in the cards. And when I say bombarded, I mean bombarded......they came at me from all directions and surrounded me!! There was no escaping. They even treated me to a potluck lunch to say goodbye. It was all very sweet and I thank them for loving me that much. I had hoped to scoot out of there without much fuss but it was all good in the end. I will be going back to visit often. I'm gone, but they are not forgotten. They will forever be my second family. Besides, I'm helping the team captain of the Relay for Life team with fundraisers and auctions and other things. I'll be there visiting more often than any other former employee, that's for sure.

Goofy Friends

2007-07-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

I commented to some friends in our company's locker room the other day about how clean my locker was. At that point I had only one shelf left and the pictures of the kids in there. I've been slowly taking some of my stuff home so come this Friday (July 27th) I won't have a huge amount of "junk" to take home with me. One of the ladies I work with, who is usually very quiet and reserved, spoke up and said that that could change in the next week. We laughed and I told her that I'd know who'd been in my locker if I opened it up and there was more stuff in there when I came back in the morning. After saying goodby to them I headed out the door to go home. As I got just out the door I realized I still had my safety glasses on my head so I turned around and went back in. As I got inside, I heard another of the ladies discussing how they should booby trap my locker so that when I open it a bunch of stuff comes falling out of it!! She didn't see me walk back in the locker room, but two of the others had and were smiling to themselves as I stood there watching her as she was talking. When she finally realized I was standing there staring at her, smiling of course because I thought it was funny, she gave me the most priceless "oh sh*t" look!! I gave her a bad time about that look the day after it happened too! It was rather funny. Since I usually keep my locker unlocked during the days, I will know if it's closed that something has been done to it!! I'm expecting it to happen any day this week since this is my last week of work.

More Relay for Life

2007-07-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

I went to look at the website for the Relay for life this morning and got another nice surprise. While the goal for this years fund raising was somewhere around $105,000, the website says that there has been over $110,000 raised and the donations are still coming in!! Hooray for Newberg and their support!

Relay for Life

2007-06-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had the opportunity to be a part of something wonderful. The annual Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. This is the first year that I've had any involvement what-so-ever and now I wish I'd participated. I wasn't an actual participant this year, although I would have if my husband hadn't had to work this weekend, but I helped my company team set up the area designated for us and stayed for some of the events that took place throughout the night and the next day. The opening ceremony was very nice. There was a speaker who spoke of his mother and how last year they were walking in support for her. She ended up passing away shortly after the relay, so he told this year that they were there to remember her and her fight. It was very moving and brought me to tears. He went on to say that he'd gotten a tattoo of a butterfly in her honor and that when he did he had to explain to the tattooist why this big burly guy was there to get a tattoo of a butterfly!!! The next two speakers were pastors from a couple different Yamhill Co. church's. One offered a prayer in Spanish and the other a prayer in English. Both very nice and asked for help in our quest for a cure. The event hoped to raise close to $100,000 for the weekend, as of Friday afternoon it was up to over $70,000! I'm interested in seeing how much was raised and if we were close to the goal!

Connie, Ushio's own cancer survivor

Party time!!

2007-06-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a graduation party for my next oldest cousin. There's 5 of us, me being the oldest of all of them. She'll be graduating next Tuesday!! Yeah for her!! The slideshow that was played actually made me cry too. I know, a slideshow?! It wasn't the pictures themselves that made me cry, it was the combination of the pictures and the music she chose to go with them. In that slideshow, one of my aunts favorite pictures, was "L" asleep in our blue chair with my daughter in her arms fast asleep as well. They were really tuckered out that day.

I remember the first time I met her in person. I was 12 at the time, she was only 6 weeks old. I traveled with our grandparents from Oregon to Minnesota to go see my aunt and uncle and to meet her. It was my first trip away from home without Mom and Dad. There was a little homesickness involved, but I won't go there. The trip itself was memorable. I still see the many different places that we stopped on the way there and back to Oregon. What I remember the most though, was this cute little girl who LOVED to cry almost every time I held her!! Yes, I will not let her forget it either!!!! I was convinced she hated me. I was 12!! The next time I saw her in person was when she was 2. Her family flew home for Christmas and I went with Grandma & Grandpa to the airport to pick them up. She was a little shy at first, but she didn't cry!!! She even consented to hold my hand as we walked through the airport. We were good buddies.

Now, she's grown up and about to embark on a new path in life. College. She claims she'll be around a lot to babysit my kids (the college she's going to is here in my hometown) when I need her to......yeah, I'm thinking she's going to be too busy. Besides, any free weekends she has she'll probably want to go see "T" if she can (her awesome boyfriend!). I guess we'll see what happens! :)

Oregon Symphony

2007-06-03T12:53:00.001-07:00

Last night I had the opportunity to go listen to the Oregon Symphony play at GFU. The event is sponsored every year by GFU and A-dec, the company that my mom works for. Every year she gets tickets and unless I'm busy, I'm always her date for the night. Last nights concert was wonderful! The conductor was fun and energetic and asked for some audience participation during a few of the songs they played. We even managed to get one encore performance from them. I know the group was having as much fun playing for us as we had listening. You could tell by looking at their faces. Relaxed even through the extreme concentration. It's amazing to me how at the beginning when they're just warming up that the mish mash of sounds you hear can come together into such beautiful music when all are playing together as one. Their one purpose is to entertain, and that they did!! Thanks again Mom, for allowing me to be your date! I always have fun when we do stuff like that together!

Acceptance

2007-05-28T15:47:00.001-07:00

My kids do not easily accept new people into their lives. Most of the time they run behind either my husband or myself and peer from behind our legs at the new person(s). Even someone in the family that they haven't seen in a while it takes a while to get warmed up to them again. Today, that was not the case. My cousin came to visit today and brought along her new boyfriend. He won the kids over by being playful with them and creating a bridge with his legs for them to jump over. Big hit! Even more amazing was that my daughter wanted to put on her Cinderella costume to show "T". Her exact words to me were..."Mommy, I want to show "T" my Cinderella dress." My son of course, loved the fact that he was willing to play Transformers with him. Now that "T" has viewed a small glimpse of our family, probably the more wild side of it, I hope we haven't scared him away. He's a nice kid and I'd like to see him stick around. :) And yes, "K" I asked him all the same questions you asked me when I started dating "M"!!

Jealousy....a very stupid thing when NOT warranted

2007-05-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have a dear friend who happens to have lived on the East Coast for some years now. We've been friends since high school. He has always seemed like an older brother to me, so there was no way in my mind that I would have any type of "feelings" for him. A little while ago I learned that his wife of 5 years found a link to my blog, this blog, and proceeded to get jealous of me yet again. Nevermind the fact that she was looking at pictures from the WRONG PAGE. She's been jealous of me before. For what reason exactly, I have no idea. He's told her before that I am only his friend from eons ago. I've sent him letters at Christmas time with pictures of the kids and news about my family. Which of course, includes my husband of almost 9 years.

I may be real off the mark here, I don't know, but if you're going to be jealous of someone you don't even know......get the facts before you start slinging accusations!!

Rainbow Strout Fishing

2007-05-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday we all hopped into the car and went to Sheridan Ponds to do a little rainbow trout fishing. My son was having trouble coming up with the correct pronounciation for trout so he kept calling it strout fishing. Both kids had their own poles. My daughter a Barbie one and my son a Spiderman one. They thought those things were the greatest there ever was. Each caught 3 fish and my husband caught about 4 of his own. I caught everything on camera since I don't care for fishing. Sitting patiently waiting for a fish to bite the hook just doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather take pictures of the area I'm in or of the people in that area. Besides, if I caught them, I'd have to touch them and even eat them later. I'd rather not do either of those!! After we got home my husband went about showing my son how to clean the fish and get them ready to eat. So far they haven't made it out of the refridgerator. I'm not sure that they will unless it's to hit the garbage can before they go on their way to the city dump. I'll give it a few more days before I make my husband do something with them.

Snowball Fight in May

2007-05-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

My grandparents live just out of town and only about 3 minutes from our house. My husband and I took our 2 kids to their house the other night for a long over-due visit. Before we even got sat down Grandma said that the "snowballs" were ready on the snowball bush. As soon as I heard that, I asked the kids if they wanted to have a snowball fight outside. With a great ruckus we headed outside for our yearly "snowball fight". A few minutes later, after I'd gathered a bunch of blooms in my arms and pelted my son with them all, we heard my son say at the top of his lungs "Yeah baby! Now that's what I call a flower shower!" It sent Grandma and I into a roar of laughter and my son scrambling to find more snowballs to throw at me in retaliation!